041821b

 

nature's vacuum

fish inflates its cheeks so fast

it sucks in your dog 

insult piled on injury

spits out clean white bones

041021c

 

cat owners find

under the bathroom sink

still baby bunny

030521b

 

native "bird"

inflates its throat

transplanted sparrow

vanishes with a squawk

that sucks

010520d

 

Seating the Teratornis delegation proved problematic, what with their 12-foot wingspans and Catholic appetites.

121420

 

daughter's car

scaly green tail hangs

from her mouth

052720d

The day Chalmers learned how fast an alligator could run was his last. His fleet young photographer got several money shots that day.

051220b

the frog freezes
like a coiled spring
as does the snake



https://scitechdaily.com/testing-the-patience-of-predators-and-prey-snakes-and-frogs-appear-to-anticipate-each-other/

022920b

The Feeder spat out another mouthful of feathers, these olive green with a trace of red, and settled down to wait. The bumps on its tongue were lozenge-shaped, pointed on one end, and handsomely striped in white and gray. This planet's biota were ripe for the plucking, and so dumb!

112119

The aliens aren't bad neighbors
in fact, new plants are popping up
outside the fence
bright red berries
look delicious
like bee-stung lips

too late the bee
observed the fangs

apivores move out
from the Reservation
colonizing
what's next
Venus rat trap?

102319b

We killed the grubs
when we found them
if we had known what the mature form was like
we'd have been more thorough
if any of us
survive the winter
we will move towards the poles
hoping for a climate zone
where these things do not thrive

100619c

From the latest Inktober prompt ("husky"), since I can't draw

Her voice gave him a thrill

How did such a small woman

Manage that husky growl?

When she coughed up a shoe

He saw that it wasn’t empty

A different thrill

092819c

Started Small

Maizie ate two and killed another

before I noticed they weren't bats:

long tail, scales, membranous wings;

she caught and killed two more,

I found the shells of six eggs

inside the wall, broken siding,

one found its way outside.

Saw it now and then,

finch to cardinal to crow size,

then, for a while, nothing;

moved on, been eaten, shot?

Kinda missed it for a while,

till I found Maizie's skeleton picked clean,

carnivore scattered in the back yard.

Neighbor was over Sunday morning,

asking about her missing lab;

haven't seen it or the old lady since,

big shadows moving, not with the wind,

I'll be OK long's the critter

can't tear open the Fiesta

or come through the plate-glass window.

090919e

cat of two tails
the scaly one hanging
from her mouth

041319

The Ascent of Cat

only some cats make it to Heaven

their exclusive clubhouse

is a dark place for the non-feline

sure, there are sunbeams to stretch out in,

plazas full of lolling cats

human servants stroke their bellies

exercise leashed mice & voles

clean & rake the litter gardens

but when darkness rises

it does so frequently

the land becomes a catutopia of prey

liquesent forms, more claw than limb

end the lives of squeaking things

again and yet again

and if there is a dawn

a dusk is close behind

022019

combing the bearded walls
getting out the snarls
the white gleam
behind the lips

120618c

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways!

1. You have not yet eaten any part of me.
2. Your sleek green ferocity is amazing.
3. You still haven't eaten me.
4.  All enemies fall or flee before you.
5. You can stand motionless for hours; pounce in a fraction of an instant.
6. I am still here.
7. Let me rephrase that.
8. I am looking up at my torso as it vanishes into your maw.
9. Our progeny will be really something.

083018c

cat brings in scared
and wounded rat
gigantic primate screams
only the rodent dies

010718c

The Hide


the
skin
on the
wall rippled
in a phantom breeze
its head lifted to peer over
the trader's shoulder as he turned and turned the native
war
knife
in his
trembling hands
he mumbled "the eyes"
and jerked his gaze to left and right
while behind him claws unsheathed sheathed and unsheathed again

102717c

What Comes Around

I’m sorry to report

the wildebeest, alas,

has been consumed, it gnu

too much, and tasted good;

the jackal (African,

coyote-ish) (hunger

compelled the savage beast;

it ate all but bones and

tendons) left what it could

not digest, a gift for

bacteria to munch,

some yummy leftovers

to birth a billion babes,

one-celled progeny to

decompose their betters.

060417d

pale green mantis
perched upon my arm
what victim fits your tiny jaws?