The tail, held back along the spine, keeps them
—most times—from kicking you. I don’t know why.

Though reverence may not save us
we must carry ourselves
with reverence.

Between my back fence and the drainage ditch,
the county’s
                             no-man’s land, I’d

In the rose and pale gold of
                                                             declining light
I brace my stiff feet on dry leaves, and grasp

Mostly my nightmares are dull. My ex-wife yells
and I yell back. The cat bolts out the door
and bites the neighbor’s child. Or else

I heaved my thick world history book
above my classmates’ heads. It arced,
flapped open, boomed against the blackboard.

We buried the kids but the cops dug them up
cops dug them up, cops dug them up,

It's raining women here in Cincinnati.
Parts of women, parts of one woman—
the police aren't really sure. Last week

Why’d he do it? we asked. But we know why.