Hunger

You can feel his heartbeat slow
            as he loiters just off the Expressway,
                     by the Okoboji Swamp
looking casual as an old purse
            under the Spanish moss,

his eyes envisioning some delicacy
            —a family of small newts
                     with a salad of green scum,
or several whiskered catfish.
            Under his gorgeous skin his brain is moving,

as mine and yours are moving now
            with joy at hunger,
                     joy at hunger filled.
Suddenly he opens his mouth
            of magnificent stalactites and stalagmites,

astonished at the power
            of his new hunger. He rises and
                     like a bee bumbling into a flower,
staggers sideways toward the Expressway.
            As guards gather,

drawing guns, he is lost in bliss
            imagining
                     the turquoise swimming pool
down the road,
            stocked with children.