Poem for Tuesday and Goat Landscapers

Bait Goat 

By Kay Ryan 

There is a

distance where

magnets pull,

we feel, having

held them   

back. Likewise

there is a

distance where

words attract.

Set one out

like a bait goat   

and wait and   

seven others

will approach.

But watch out:

roving packs can

pull your word

away. You   

find your stake   

yanked and some   

rough bunch

to thank.

-------- 

Tuesday was Rosh Hashanah, and my Grandma Sylvia's birthday, and apparently the Rapture though for a previously mentioned reason I did not qualify so I'm still on the planet. But although I was expecting a quiet New Year celebration with itchy eyes because smoke from the Cascades and Canadian fires is sitting over our area, I ended up having an excellent afternoon, because our neighborhood has hired goats to manage the overgrown vegetation that they're not allowed to chop down to protect the wetlands, so we got to watch the goats arrive and depart their trailer and start eating the massive knot of invasive blackberries and other vines between our apartment and the lake. The cats we often see in the corner window were just as interested in watching the goats as we were. 

I did not finish The Paris Bookseller due to being distracted by the goats, but I did manage to walk to beach despite the smoky skies. Many Canada geese are congregating at the park, possibly to eat acorns like the ducks. Then I came home for my Trek group, which watched DS9's "Rules of Acquisition" -- Ferengi sexism has aged terribly, as has Jadzia's tolerance for it, but "Necessary Evil" is next and that was a life-changing episode for me so I can live with a bad one this week. We watched the Orioles winning around dinner, but the real baseball news here is that the Mariners have clinched a spot in the postseason! We just watched the season finale of Alien: Earth, which I really, really hope will be back next season, and now we're watching The Morning Show which I have missed.