Katrinka Moore


from Numa

Amble, pad, sniff. Come
to a brake deep in ferns, dive &
tumble under cover, soft, low, thick with
fronds. Roll in the tangle, lie still (un-
seen) wheel, wallow. Underbrush
sways over body invisible, so feathery
dense a layer of life carries on
at ground level, untouched until
now: smasher,      scatterer,      undulator.




Owl, predator herself, stays
out of reach. Nods. An
interval, silent together, as
sounds around them ebb. The bird
lifts off the branch & Numa
steps into rising murmur buzz
snort      jabber      caw      squawk




Bear is adverse
to imitation / careless
numen, callow demi
god / best to keep a
distance / try some-
thing grand out of
sight / in secret /

ripen / fill out / ruggedize /

comes out sketchy / more
critter than beast / tucked
inside rib bones, damp &
warm / passenger within
black-furred lumberer /

bearness has to run
its course / soon




boy-child raccoon nibbles
dew- & raspberries / rises
on hind legs / paw-
hands grabbing / this
delicious life / this
summer




nothing lasts / shapes
shift / becoming
always / always
in motion / nothing
settled, everlasting
shuffle & stir / in-
complete / flawed /
ravishing



Katrinka Moore’s new chapbook, Falling off horses, will be published by Pudding House Publications in 2011. The poems from Numa are part of a series about a shape shifting creature. More poems from the series can be found in Otoliths #18.
 
 
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