Before the Ink Dries —(Listen)

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When suits enter the woods
the animals flee

When Pradas plod the undergrowth
not even the king of the jungle is safe
lions become lambs
and lambs, lamb chops

When the scent of Gucci
wafts through primal domains
even 800 lb gorillas take a hike
–like pipsqueak squirrels
who can smell death
at distances of light years
they scurry into shadows
at the glint of cufflinks

All forest creatures know
that a man in a tie may be
more vicious than a werewolf
at full moon or a great white
off Coney Island in high-sweat July

Beware the lapel, the mother bear
warns her cubs. Lapels frame the heads
of mighty predators like necklaces
of skulls and tiger’s teeth
and silk hankies that peek
from breast pockets are no less than
the marks of Cain

The spear-pens of bankers may pierce
the heart of a wilderness
more deeply than the bronze tips
of fierce Greeks pierced the heart of Troy

–once they’re hurled a wilderness dies
a sure death before the ink dries

Jim Culleny
March 2007

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My Book, Odder Still, is available at:
Amazon and Barnes and Noble,
and also at Boswell’s Books in Shelburne Falls
and Amherst Books in Amherst, Ma