i could be panther scrounging night
on vigilant prowl for your poem,
roll vowels like rabbits’ eyes
around my salt tongue,
scan, in the vast meadow
of the Milky Way,
an unwary metaphor
to sate my hunger,
to express this,
to make sense of it.
a symbol stirs.
my pupils dilate, huge
to contain oceans,
lounging
in the tree is prey –
I spring, increasing
for the pounce –
it slithers out.
again i miss.
again i miss.
the harsh consonant crow
breaks silent dark to day,
i slouch to sleep in deep shade.