Ark of Wood [Today's News Poem, August 21, 2010]
In 'Mongol Hunts,' men
on horses circled around a zone and beat
the bushes; driving every
critter to the center. These sorts
of things never end
well for the beasts. Yoking
brush takes fire and steel;
slashing and burning the growth
until it cowers under farmland,
until it is used up and flies
beyond the reach of tool or plan.
The flora reach to grasp
the sun: hold it, hitch
a ride and flee. The animals
will run upon a bridge
of bark—and ride the ark of wood.
Barring that, the plants
will lock their branches,
lacing-up the sky and embrace
the garden of surface,
that prison for masters,
a circus for fauna;
mechanical big-top
grocer; with euthanasia.
“A bear that mauled to death a caretaker was euthanized Saturday at the request of the family of the victim, whose father said he had told his son to leave the job. The bear attacked Brent Kandra, 24, when he opened its cage Thursday for a routine feeding at the home of a man who kept a menagerie of wolves, tigers and bears on the property southwest of Cleveland.”
– JEANNIE NUSS, Associated Press, August 21, 2010
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jcScCFNF4KJBJPVIwjJCy2vW9IZQD9HO5U780
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