Chuck Taylor: In the Woods Near Cut and Shoot, Texas

You brought her off the road

And laid her on the kitchen

Table – road kill, gorgeous, her pelt

Clean, vigorous, youthful. Under the kitchen

Fluorescent she seemed full of moonlight.

The forest ranger came and examined

Her teeth, her limbs and nails.

We stood silent, respectful. James

Wished to know if she was pure

Blood, or if her genes were

Partly dog. She seemed all wolf

To me and to the forest

Ranger, who carried her off for

Refrigeration. All I knew was she

Was lean and in her prime.

I felt her belly to see if

She might be pregnant. I wanted

So to believe the pine trees

Around us wept in silent mourning.

Copyright Chuck Taylor 2011. From At the Heart (Ink Brush Press)

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