Poem

I went out hunting and saw an elk,
the find of a lifetime or so they say
with a glistening, silky, elegant hide
and curved, pearly antlers reaching toward heaven.
A rare find - when all comes together, the summit of a career.
All that was left was to reap the prize-
to choose the right tool, line up my shot
and with surgical precision, harvest life from the royal bounty.
Yet in my folly I grew impatient.
I grasped the shotgun by my side
and pumped round, after round of molten lead
into its umber flank, until it collapsed with a whimper
spewing blood, intestines, and shredded tendons
all over the fecal, microbial forest floor.

I ruined the meat.