2 robin’s eggs at 5
100 jar caught bees
before I reached double digits
some brain cells in my teens
when I was 10 times 2
the tan man on the wire
by then,
there were rules about such things
and I broke them
even though nobody ever said I did
with the easy squeeze of a finger
on my shaking right hand, I
sent him to some “promised land”
but he didn’t go
he stayed right there
by the South China Sea
with me
stuck still as stone on that wire
with roses all over his back
(that was always nice of them to call the exit wound a rose effect, don’t you think?)
a buzzard at 23--high flying in a blue Texas sky
clipped him with my 22 from 400 meters--he spun once
his black noble greasy carcass
disappeared into the horizon I could never reach
a rabbit at 30,
skittering through the Oklahoma snow
we let him lay and freeze
at 40, 2 doves with 1 shot from a 12 gauge
I didn’t have a hunting license
but hell, at half that age I was taught
you don’t need a license to ****
only a will