If only for a little while, what caught
Their eyes, and they were mesmerized
For a timeless instant of awe, like all
Children everywhere live their moments,
With a creature, and we had them all:
Blind toads, disappearing rabbits,
Hens who didn't believe they were chickens,
Bearded dragons who wanted to fuck all day
But could never quite hook the hole,
Gekkos who needed to come out each night
For a comfortable hand to bite, snakes that hid
In the sofa, who were foisted by airmail
On new homes with less negligent owners,
A beautiful green iguana named Draco
Who sat only on the highest perch of a house
Built just for him, who tolerated only
The warmest mists, the freshest organic greens
And would flail like an anaconda, bare talons
Like a hawk to inflict the pain he felt in my glove
As I tried without a clue to keep him alive
For a little girl who had long since forgotten him
-- Or had maybe repressed the trauma
Of playing with the little adorable and
Finding him under the TV, screaming
To parents who'd line danced 'til 3
What to do, and we begged and we pleaded
Don't try to get him out, just wait a second
But a second was an eternity of worry, she had to
Lift the TV and drop it perfect cut on his
Little arm. It made him, ironically, more valuable
(For iguanas outlive humans) to be the green iguana
Who never knew he had four limbs once.
At least she didn't kill kim, like she killed her fish, killed
Her cat, killed the miracle bearded dragon baby
The appeared in the yard months after mama had died
But hey, kids kill pets, it's no worse than a nature
Documentary, the grief builds their character
And the time saved makes our lives easier -- the
Dragon alone was an hour a day fixing my eyes
On my darkening yard to find where he'd hid
That time. Same with the rabbits, creatures designed
To fuck so severely with my mind I almost felt love
When I finally put them in the hay with carrots.
And, in some strange reversal that these times are
So famous for, all the chores of raising angry chickens
Fell to the parents, but the kids got the eggs
And generally didn't eat them, you know how kids are.
But they left their eggshells scattered nevertheless
And my main job was not to crack them, for
What held us hostage was their sadness, for what life is
As they saw it unfold, if only in a blink before turning away.
They would lose their soul if it was spoken what they did
To those they loved, out of care, out of fear, out of neglect.
In fact this is the first time speaking of it, today.
What brings it up is this nature, well, documentary
We are watching as the Year of the Dragon wends its way
Through our final year together, if not as a family,
At least on Earth together, and we came with whatever
We had to show for the experience, on our best
Behavior, like a marking of time and nothing more,
But somehow we got together, formed that one
Consensus share that makes us real, as we saw
Scottish weasels turn white, dolphins fish by sonar,
The latest AI models of the colors bees can see,
The usual menagerie of creatures better than us
In all but one detail, and the usual complete lack of
Feasible explanation for any of it, this galactic zoo
Where we humans get to be the alpha dog,
Even humans from Alpha Centauri, or Sirius,
Strange as we are to understand and get along here.
They knew every species, loved every kind,
The macaws and mandrills, zebras, blue frogs,
The impossible rainbow mantis shrimp, and it made
The breaking of bread seem somehow worthwhile,
Each of us on different operating wavelenths,
Different ways to be innocent and well-intentioned
But ruin others lives, again and again, with no consequence,
On this strangest of holidays, not understood by a soul
Not from the USA, barely tolerated by those within it,
As all families barely tolerate each other, then and now,
And as most Thanksgivings go, it wasn't bad,
To sit through one last brave act of fakery
To hide resentment at never being allowed
To really know each other, our roles were too
Defined, the play too well designed for my needs,
Whatever the hell they are.
We say goodbye pretending to be the best of friends
We couldn't trust, any attempts at meaning
Met with harsh resistance, with talks of a visit
To a record store for Disraeli Gears
As if I wasn't even here. But I was,
There was no one else in fact. And I saw it,
After they had left, a single spider
Both would have demanded immediately killed
As a condition of approval for me as step-parent,
Just spinning its web in freedom
In the gold Thanksgiving light,
Just beginning her web,
The story that includes it all.
