Nearing Extinction - March 3, 2023

don’t you poets have to see

a ripple in the water

unusual leaf movement

or a shadow move across

the face of something

before you start stalking

a new poem?

the days of simple

dancing-in-sunlight topics

knock-at-the-door themes

and naked-in-front-of-you

subjects are long gone

all hunted to extinction

the next ten years I’ll need

trackers for longer missions

seek out unusual places

use stealth and concealed

traps to have a chance

of capturing anything elusive

and genetically rare

although I still believe in luck

and the lottery of flipping over

sofa cushions

to see what might have

infilled back into this dead zone

and living right under my nose