Freshly shorn, freshly
shaven, but the elephants
and the million beetles
do not care; perfect clothing
and a smooth face but lions
and seals don’t care either.

I am learning not to care
as Earth doesn’t care, preferring
no live performance, no
need to rise up shining
before the masses to be
recognized.

I am learning not to notice
sneers and rejection and the
needle bites of this world
whether they come from men
or insects or even the suspect
invisible teeth of germs.

Fresh eyes, fresh
hands, but the bears
and the snakes do not
care. If you are human
they — the myriad myriads
of the planet beyond us —
do not care about us beyond
what we lend to the fight
and even then, they are serene
when one of us goes, is taken;

they know the arc of history
is like a cigarette flicked into a lake
from a pair of lips: gone,
forgotten, never to be seen again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
onward,
T