Grotesquely,
The still-form of what I thought
Was a safe-feeling pet rabbit,
Sleeping in a ray of afternoon sunshine,
Was a rabbit intact, except
For its underbelly, it was totally missing.
And, I saw the two dachshund neighbor dogs
Inside the large used-by-summer-4-H-chickens-pen.
Chicken-wired with aging loosened staples.

Bubba was dead. His pregnant-also-pet mate,
Zoë, missing. They were digging a den underneath.
There would have been baby bunnies within two weeks.

Not anymore.

Erin Elizabeth Kelly-Moen
© Copyright 1/30/08