POEMS ABOUT ANIMALS

BELLADONNA (iguana)

Emerald and topaz, obsidian and chalcedony
Golden eyes, scimitar talons
Still as stone, fleet as rain,
Curious, disdainful, imperious, high-strung
Watching
Weighing
Waiting
Still as an exotic goddess —
Until she smells cilantro
And scampers over to beg.

LIZARD

Rustling
Like pages in an old text
Flipped by an impatient scholar;
Age and sun and stone –
Books and time and memory –
They keep dry secrets
Like the lizard beneath the rosemary.

WOLF

The wolf lives in the corner of my eyes
And comes out whenever I’m tired
From staring at the computer screen too long
Or driving too long on the L.A. freeways.
Twisted, black, with metal-chip eyes
And claws that snag the carpet
It waits on the threshold of sight
Until it can feed upon my caught breath.

WHY I BUY FREE-RANGE EGGS

The hens press wing-to-wing
Too crowded to sit down.
Eyes bloodshot, wide, and staring;
Beaks clipped to bloody nubs.