Stabs of natural light
and the bears are woken
from winter.
Bony yearlings
on their own now.
Ambling down the street
with a laboured
chuffing.
Pulling down the early buds
of berry bushes,
looking for an easy meal.
Early risers, the first of the season.
The ones
out at the dump
live right beside the humans.
They are seasoned, more conditioned.
There is a loaded shotgun
in the back of the bulldozer
if there are any issues.
But there is seldom anything.
Old dryers broken down to scrap.
The long winter
has everyone stunted.
Our fleet-footed fox
brought to lumber.
The birds
in the songless
trees.
Ryan Quinn Flanagan is a Canadian-born author residing in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada with his wife and many bears that rifle through his garbage. His work can be found both in print and online in such places as: Evergreen Review, The New York Quarterly, Borderless Journal, GloMag, Red Fez, and Lothlorien Poetry Journal.
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