Savage And Silly

Savage and silly by turns the poem puts on
a pair of silver shoes (the ones with the

little fluttering wings at the ankles) to take us
on a guided tour of the thickest forest and the
most exotic medicinal plants and half-asleep
or wide-awake creatures uncurling from their
lairs at this strange hour for visiting

But the poem while respectful due to its
loyalty to syntax however wrenched or displaced
also looks with naked eyes

at the newborn zebra bursting from its egg
or a seed case busting open
to produce a living flame

1/29/2005