We were born screaming
hounds roaring from the belly of midcontinental lakes.
We would grow by learning to bury ourselves beneath the brush of Midwest forest.
The leaves are more sibling than brothers.
Can you hear them?
They are ruffling through the darkness,
They have nothing to teach you.
You light a fire from the brush
You hear only the death of family -
Can you hear me?
We never believed we could birth such darkness.
In the event of calamity
We will call this a forest fire/
an arson/
an accident waiting to happen -
Can you hear me?
I have been waiting for this to shatter
for us to again fold inwards on ourselves
Begging each other to find a way to stop the burning above us
We will bark into the darkness
towards all we had made
Hoping for it to enter the fire/
to burn away/
to forgive us.

We never meant to burn everything that made us.
We got lost amongst the lighting of matches.
We didn't think we needed to put them out,
We thought we could just be
With paws dug into the dirt
we will seek to unmask what lit this flame
if somewhere in the dark we had kept our creator around
If it saw anything beneficial in our pyre
Would it learn to forget us,
to regret sending us roaring into the forest
only seeking to consume all it had to offer.
We didn't think we would do so this way
With all our plunder becoming tinder around us
Hoping we might make it