Tag: lizard

visitor in the yard (20170625)

crow7 Comments

lizard rests on the sidewalk
looks me right in the face

–hey, he says

i stare down into his black eyes
his ribs don’t move in and out
the way i think they should
but he’s definitely alive
definitely talking to me

–hey, i say back

he shakes his, and odd human gesture
on his little reptilian body

–seriously?
i’m a talking lizard for fuck’s sake
that’s the best you can dredge up?

he scuttles toward the fence
almost makes it underneath

–check out the peach tree, i say
there’s lots of flies
sure to find a meal
and a pile of bricks
to hide behind

he nods

–thanks
sorry for swearing

i shrug
and he is gone

heeds tails (20170527)

crow7 Comments

i have ceased to trust
the sound of the wind
as it whispers in the pines
the wind lies and cheats
a dirty fighter
it has thrown dust
in my eyes
my tears run
filthy and muddy
and i am blinded

ignorance is bliss
you say
let me tell you

there’s a pragmatic kind
of not knowing
that is better than knowing
where you can convince
yourself that you do not need
to know
what you do not want
to know

a lizard scurries past
on the sidewalk
sans tail
and i’m happy for him
having evaded a predator perhaps
or possibly just a kid
on a bike

but he must feel that loss
off balance
without that weight
to anchor him
for when the wind
picks up and whispers

Poem 20150524

crow

the sky is blue
but it’s not the same blue
and the clouds are high
but not as high
or as white
and the air is cold
but not as thin or dry
and sits heavy in the lungs

already
the day is filled
with going and doing
and not enough being

one walk
one attempt to sustain
has us finding a lizard
carelessly killed
and grieved only by
the mourning of doves
the buzzing of insects
and the two of us
placing him in the shade
so that he won’t be hit again

i wonder how different here
can be from there
where signs warn
not to step on cryptobiotic soil
and here the lizard
with his beautiful blue stomach
couldn’t move fast enough
in a world moving much too fast