The Action of Claws and Teeth

it is cheetah walking,

hungry and thin cheetah

loping with constant ease

grasses curving and tilting

to let cheetah through

with dead eyes listing

to capsize malevolently

onto bouncing bouquets of legs.

and cheetah, stretching,

on lowered legs seeps forward

through curved grasses tilting,

whispering to themselves

tapping at his jaw,

scratching his belly

and in the distance:

bundles of legs flipping,

beautiful handles for dewclaws.

cheetah stalks and thinks of grasping,

the action of claws and teeth

and running and eating and fear and fighting

and all for the pilots of those legs in the curving grasses

but the grasses don't run,

they grow up while legs grow down,

though the piercing sun blends them as one.

why to pilot them away

always away from cheetah,

and he forgets this,

he inspects them again