Poem

Backyard Zoo

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Twin foxes today, not quite
as red as expected, but foxes
for certain…
Yesterday a possum
on the window ledge, leaving
his paw prints on the glass…
Otherwise the usual: white-tailed
fawns or young does tripping
like ballerinas in the grass,
a male wild turkey splaying
tail feathers in a fan, groundhogs
and chipmunks in open stealth,
a pheasant parading like a king
with seven queens, a skunk
protected by the private threat
of stench, a turtle mimicking
a soldier’s helmet on legs
and plodding east southeast..
My backyard’s home to all.
Roofed from birth, the turtle
disagrees.
He has no truer
home to seek than where
he is no matter where
he is or where he goes.
If he gets there, he gets there.
If not, he’s there already.