The raccoon in the good-enough woods
knows when to expect you.
The geese don’t look down
from diagramming the sky.
Suddenly the boy is scared of coyotes,
worried for his cartoon animal friends.
Your body is wired through the air to his body.
Like a sharpshooter who knows to pull the trigger
between heartbeats, you can test-run
the system in your mind. There is
a blankness shame will fill but for now
there is only one way to feel: afraid.
from Little StrangerFind it in the library
Copyright © 2013 Lisa Olstein
Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc.
on behalf of Copper Canyon Press.