Re-homing

Re-homing

What I remember is how in the name

of being humane we used a live

trap, lured him with a nutty bit 

of something irresistable where he feasted

until his famine tripped the lever and clanged

the cage. What I remember next is 

the rage, how there in the back

of my dad’s suburban he smashed back and forth

in elemental tantrum till blood dripped 

from the pulp of his nose and he lay panting

on his side, unable to stand. 

Back then I couldn't understand. 

I can’t remember if he lived or died,

just that flicker of something like star-fire

in the black hole of his eye.