THE BADGERS

In my effort
to be a good sport
about it all,
I forgot to take
the badgers into account.

I remembered the partridges,
jaguars and stoats,
the turkeys, oxen
and hamburger rats.
I even remembered those mythical denizens
that I'd never thought
would spend their time
loafing around--
languid chipmunks, carnivorous deer,
handyman's companion woodland porpoises.

I spent so much time
coming up with beasts
that I lost the line
between natural occurrence
and fairy tale claptrap.
I was up to my neck
in creatures both seen
and unseen when a platypus
splashed my face
with lukewarm water,
growling like a feral cat
and formally reminding me
that the badgers had started
gnawing at my ankle.

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Originally posted to WHARVED.com on July 7th, 2016.