An Urban Bestiary

Down the street
up in the buildings
under the avenues
in tunnels of transit
I am always surrounded
by the beasts of the city.
There are bears in the Capitol Hill bars,
snakes in the banks of Fifth Avenue,
dead foxes on old hens
browsing in the windows
of the West Edge.
Rats scurry in every shadow
from Aurora Avenue North
to White Center
(why do you think
they call it "Rat City?").
Cows block the doors
of busses in the Third Avenue transit corridor.
Chickens hide from tavern bulls
in tepid coffee shops
abutting slaughterhouse shopping malls
where the barnyard sleepwalks
single file
past the ringing tills
of the abattoir cash register.
Better watch out.
Young packs of wolves
roam far and wide
slashing at the old and infirm
with impunity
while pigs in penguin cars
sit safely parked
in suburban drive throughs.
This little worm
is gonna find a soft patch
of cold compost
and run silent
and deep,
like a dirt submarine.