distant cousins

doghowls stray windward
across moon-hung night

far above clatter of lantern-light
where woodsmoke man-stink crawls
roughly shoving nostrils in wolven lairs

hackle-backed rumbles and
stiff-legged earthshake growls
warn off fire-slaves

whipped tools
who circle self like wagons
whining in ecstasy of fear

as if to hide in shadow
cast by cold
unnatural light


distant cousins

notes from the nuclear age