The Leopard, Boar, and Their Unkindness

Feral but wholesome in its strangeness

that two wild beasts

meet at the abandoned nest

of a raven not long for the world

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and decide, instead of hunting the helpless

fledglings, to raise

them as reapers of the sky

like their mother would’ve, given time.

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The unspotted leopard and boar — tuskless,

its eye gouged and gored,

tracked the unkindness for eight

days and nights before they flocked toward

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the grave of a shaman with three eyes.

“It’s mine,” the boar cried.

Then, Loyal beaked it

from its socket and returned her sight.

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Brave was the most reckless in flight.

The agile feline climbed to

unwind his wing from the

branch of an elm tree that had a face

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like Aphrodite carved into its side.

“How tame,” she crowed,

then drew her claws

through its bark, marring the visage.

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A spotted coat was all she ever wanted,

so Honest plucked

berries from the defaced tree

and left splotchy, indigo stains on her mane.

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They became undoubtedly bonded —

a family in every way,

yet, the motherly pair knew they

would eventually have to leave the fledglings.

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“When we are gone, do not be haunted

by our absence. Hold us

instead in your bellies, and

let us live within you, beastly as always.”