Incel
Bachelor Nene goose stakes out territory
among ferns beside the swimming pool
where he screeches and patrols,
pursues feathered invaders.At 3 am I hear him caterwauling
from the lawn below our balcony,
shrieks his grievances to the stars,
wakes up sleeping tourists.By morning, he has melted
into a feathery mound of misery
beneath a clump of red ginger
where doves, hens and roosters avoid him.When I pass his personal pity party,
he uncoils a serpentine neck.
Ebony beak strikes.
He malevolently hisses.December 2024