Reasons Why I Bark

This yard is about
more than you
or me now commitment's
more than a handshake
ink on a rag
rag on a stick
sweat on a stump
vinegar vat whiff
catflap Delius screeched
popcorn ears sewn over
walked out on your
subwoofered telenovelas
about fake animals
rattling under real distress
Littlest Hobo Shark Week
Lancelot Link Wigs Out
I don't fucking dig it
any more than
any other daytime Darwin,
Sunday supplemental
sitcom doorbells
horses shuffling in jazz pants
peas, leashes, slushes, fleas
anything I can't tax, leave or
by loving through your
brutal small mind
make go away.

You owe me you must have meant.

To walk from pole to pole
then tree to tree
was the squirrel's one good idea,
our quadripedal commons
becoming the flanked nuts
of an overhead contempt
his ruined Chernobyl tail
only partly concealed.

But fall means new storage
for everybody
caramelized skies
bleed pumpkin tiretracks
weeping lamps lit
with trailer drying bulbs
thorns facing units
through chainlink
raven-pecked pears
in a white bag
a slow weapon
for the horse people
to shoplift….

(tbc)