Words from Inside My Head

There once was a woman

killed in the woods by a bear

she’d caught and trained to dance

to songs she’d written for him.

The lyrics were slightly strained,

but he was most pissed off

by the music, for if he was to dance,

he wanted to do it to songs of his own.

Bears have music of their own,

much better than that written for them,

At first he hadn’t meant to kill her,

just to get away, but during the escape

he saw himself within her,

so she simply had to go.

I knew the moment I saw you

that you were one of the bears

dancing to songs you’d written

though the lyrics were quite strange.

The last time I saw you,

you rolled down the window as I cruised by.

I was not surprised to see you,

the only bear I’ve ever known

who drives through the forest in a red pick-up truck,

paws wrapped tight around the

steering wheel, both feet upon the brakes.

You yelled out the details.

Years later, I found my brakes

but by then, it was too late.

~an old poem by Annie Blanchard

(all the recent talks of bears and women made me pull this out)