Striped Skunk

As dead flies give perfume a bad smell,
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor


If wisdom named my days
If my name gave day to high ways
Yet a highway's magic stretch
Plus one insidious carcass
Lengthens journey-weariness

I gave it not a thought
starting skinny, toothless, blind
But now arrayed in black
With ghost white forking lines

Digging secret nests
Nightly lurking dark
Infest a pre-existing earth wound
Repulsive mark

Last week's vision burned
My soul had ears, moving
Like hail's percussive dance
Where does boredom hail from

Mephitis mephitis
From tongue to tail eight hands
A brood of three to nine
Inside a season's span

As a highway's magic stretch
Yields to one small carcass
Forgetting dogwood buds
A trace of folly overfloods
Wisdom, honor, courage