ceding control
illness imposes humility
the mortification of being reduced to
one’s bodily functions
malfunctioning
in public
unconcerned with politeness
the body has its way with one
does all manner of offensive things
and past the point of social graces
we surrender without shame
relieved by mere survival
volcano
we land creatures
move our eyes
across the earth’s
folds and dimples
taking in texture
thinking we know
where we are
meanwhile
its ponderous girth
squats sumo-style;
a loincloth of
white cloud severs
the cone from
our lived world
it’s only when
we remember and
look up beyond
where we expected
that we see
safari after dark
in the filtered morning sun
we take tea in the fig forest canopy
under the armed guide’s watchful eye
and rifle barrel
in the evening
after the last dish is rinsed
and the moon, Milky Way, constellations admired
it’s time to give way to the wild
retreat to our tents
and hide
it’s a long night
with what will be a full bladder
and the next tap running nonstop
the monkeys have turned it on
and it’s too close to the trees = leopards
and the hyena that won’t stop its maudlin haunting yip
for me to think about conserving anything
beyond my own skin
we’re interlopers here
I see clearly
when the dark sets in
and the bush rustles
