I saw the javelina from afar
It looked familiar like a neighbor
eating rocks
at the edge of the grass, framed by the grass
and several barrels of patriotic flowers
The javelina’s front leg was wounded It hobbled
across the parking lot
to the wash
where it was invited by the shadows
to die or await the feral weathervane
All mammals grieve, but lack the muscles
to make us feel
the tenderness of the inhuman
Some people let whichever organism is least
apprehensible in its simplicity
hobble
into the splayed gut
fall over turn into broth
Some people stand where the wounded stood
and grow ornate
with a sense of terrestrial connection
each organism shapes
with its transition