red_tailed_hawk
raze
a
year
ago
,
almost
to
the
day
,
i
watched
one
of
your
brethren
wrap
its
talons
around
the
top
rail
of
a
chain
link
fence
on
an
afternoon
when
the
wind
felt
like
a
hurricane
that
was
holding
back
just
enough
to
steer
itself
from
grabbing
everything
still
standing
and
whipping
it
halfway
across
the
world
.
an
hour
later
the
hawk
was
still
there
.
a
house
could
have
hit
that
bird
and
it
wouldn't
have
let
go
.
now
i
watch
you
glide
an
inch
off
the
ground
with
a
black
squirrel
limp
in
your
mouth
.
you
dealt
the
killing
blow
before
i
found
you
.
you
carry
your
quarry
to
the
scaffold
branch
of
the
nearest
tree
and
perch
there
,
almost
close
enough
to
touch
.
you
turn
your
tetrachromatic
eyes
on
me
and
take
in
all
the
colours
i
am
.
you
watch
me
watching
you
.
then
you
eat
,
tearing
out
the
guts
of
your
catch
through
its
chest
while
its
tail hangs
from
the
weak
crotch.
all
i
can
think
of
is
the
way
some
people
hang
a
taxidermic
squirrel
tail
from
their
rear_view_mirror
like
it
means
something
.
i
can't
see
the
face
of
what
you've
killed.
but
i
can
see
what
you
pull
from
its
body
.
pink
and
red
pieces
of
heart
and
stomach
divorced
from
their
duties
to
the
circulatory system
and
the
gastrointestinal tract.
i
keep
expecting steam
to
rise
from
what
you
hold
between
the
bones
of
your
beak
.
i
watch
you
devour
life
so
you
can
go
on
living
.
you're
not
so
different
from
me
.
211119
...
kerry
raze
,
this
is
beautiful
.
brutal
and
bloody
and
delicious
.
211119
...
raze
thank
you
,
kerry
.
your
words
mean
more
to
me
than
i
can
tell
you
.
211119
...
unhinged
.
i
heard
the
crow
alarm
call
go
up
and
instinctively
looked
up
.
i
saw
a
couple
crows
dive
bombing
near
the
roof
of
a
building
and
a
few
more
fly
over
to
watch
.
all
of
a
sudden
what
i
thought
was
a
group
of
crows
left
the
roof
and
started
erratically
flying
towards
the
main
road
.
a
cooper's
hawk
carrying
a
dead
pigeon
in
it's
talons
burst
through
the
group
of
crows
and
flew
towards
the
trees
on
the
opposite
side
of
the
street
but
dropped
it's
pigeon
in
the
process
.
the
gang
of
crows
put
up
a
rukus
of
caws
and
i
lost
sight
of
the
hawk
in
the
tree
.
i
decided
to
keep
walking
to
trader joes
so
i'm
not
sure
which
team
got
the
pigeon.
211119
what's it to you?
who
go
blather
from
