CANYON TAIL
____________

Focused on the chastity of rocks
I was shifted by the loosening circle of exhaust
from a young lady's car-pipe.
It bathed my shoes one after the other
as I observed the rear wings of her hairdo.
I'm always watching what they do
next, and next.

In a wayward current
the habits of squirrels
cycled around bits of failed recycling:
torn barcodes of lost number-language
labels slipping from glass surfaces
in mineral whirlwinds.

They all move
like a more anxious version of the cat,
not actually biting their knuckles;
everything gnaws quicker around them.
Too quick-moving to beg,
I feel the ribs in my coat
tightening.