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Badger
Mark Lee
In White Mountain Apache folklore,
the badger carried darkness upon his back.
You carried darkness
Bundled like pieces of a broken dream
Obsidian edges in a sack
You are solitary
You carried great things
Of great weight upon your low flat back
Burrow deeply
Into earth deeply into thought
A respite from the slow heat of desert life
Your long black claws scrape against
Scrape through scrapping a way
Away from the desert's heat
Long after your musk is gone
Others will shelter in your den
Comfort born of your aggression
White
Stripe down your muscular back
Is this what Darkness left you when it left?
Thick fur over loose skin
The mask of Zorro and a pointed
Snout
Ornery
Gruff
Short
You are
Fearless
Of the Darkness
Fearless
Of the Thunder
Of the Mountain Lion
I hold in my hand your sun
Whitened skull Not a stitch of flesh
To cover your truth
Even now you bare your teeth
So that I must give in
Give in to your wish to remain
I place you back at the base of the cliff
Forever snarky and snarling
As the darkness sets down
~~~~~
Mark Lee is a bicycle mechanic and poet who lives in Tucson. He studied creative writing at the University of Arizona.