The Cooper’s hawk twitches a carcass
at the oak tree’s roots, a block from the hospitals.
Such cruelty & cars reckless
blast past me on Boston’s Riverway.
I watch a driver in a white SUV
windows tinted
fly by at 60 in a 30-mph zone
& slam a crow as it lifts above asphalt
broken wings thrushed to panic
in the heart of matter.
Somewhere, a child
is calling a small dog’s name.
Somewhere, a barred owl
hears the heartbeat of its prey.
Just this morning, on the lamp’s base
I stubbed my toe, it throbbed & throbbed.
Collisions that yoke a power
we are powerless to.
Even god-like Achilles, warrior
most fierce, most beautiful
could not escape the vault
of death coveting Troy.
He paced the beach, pulled back by his hair,
heels sinking in the sand.