[048]
02/13/2009 10:48 p.m.

thumping at the ground in warning and panic,
she cannot, despite these efforts, avoid his
massive leather paws. tining, tining -- there
is nowhere on this vast creature for her
antlers to lock, to rut, to break skin and cry
out and then she is engulfed.

"i need you," bear says, "to mimic the sounds
of humanity. i need you," bear says, "to help
me break into this, to articulate, for i fear."

so she translates great western songs into
folk tales into tradition into colors and into
howlings for bear to consider.

----------------------

swathed in this great mound of bedding i am
a fossil. an owl pellet. a loosely held sack
of bones with broken wrists contained perfect-
ly in a sphere of dirt and feathers.