No one said breathing
in the same room 
would be easy. Sometimes 
it’s a blue whale’s heart, 

clashing loud against
the husk of us. I have 
studied the laws of grazing 
primates along fields–

the ‘roo and its kin
marsupials and their cubs.
There’s always a lame one
with earth stuck 
to patches of skin or fur,

with bruises part coral part not
or with a wing that doesn’t 
quite close all the way– 
as if biology or love is some-

thing they got wrong. You’d
think blood would be enough 
but, I want you to understand
that conversation can be a coffin

and names have power Dad. 
We are no ordinary beasts.