What exactly is this Animal?
I hunt seeking sustenance,
Observe for entertainment and
Spar with to sharpen my claws?
Some politely call it society
But when I hear mysteriously arbitrary social constructions
Like "Act Yourage", I sarcastically taunt & poke at the Culture Cage

I’ve become aware, amused and sometimes despise
That I drag my heart through a knothole of lies
I grow scales and gills, feathers and fur
Hoofs and tusks, change colors and stripes, no matter how absurd
Just to fit in and join the Herd

I inhale from the Corporate Aspirator &
Wear a mission statement tightly around my neck
Until I no longer can stomach the image in my bathroom mirror
I follow your scent & wave my heterosexual Flag
Seduce open each leg & dare stampeding sperm to an impatient egg

Than I curse and want to eat my offspring, rather than feed them anything
My thunder & lightning Desires shift with the seasons, derange
Much too quickly around which to arrange
The lumbering behemoth of my life

So often I find myself, exposed, on a barren plain, insane
In the middle of a suddenly foreign Tribe
Fixated on a New Promise Horizon
Reaching for a drum who’s skin grows tighter and tighter

The Flesh I Hunger to touch & rub & suck
The Flesh I Hunger to pound & cut & eat
Is sometimes yours and sometimes mine
But the Animal I wrestle is Inside!

SteveIam

2/10/98