—THE SUN WILL NEVER SHINE AND THE WOLVES WILL NEVER CRY

 

 

brachiation

 

and then one day 

I am a gibbon 

hairy angry 

floundering and lost 

looking for my tail 

and soul likewise

my arms too long 

to stash or tuck

so instead I swing 

branch-to-branch 

watch the leopard 

slow-circle the 

tree down below 

watch the king 

cobra slither over 

each knuckle of bark 

until we’re eye-to-eye 

his fangs bared 

and mine too 

knees shaking

my fist clamped 

on a tree limb 

the decision right 

before me like a nude

and it’s fight or flight 

so I swallow my resolve 

as I always do 

swinging swinging

swinging in fear