The Last Bestiary   By Daniel Bourne
Channel: KaBeJotTubka
Date: 19/12/2013

The Last Bestiary

By Daniel Bourne

January 16, 2012

When all animals have died
even the ones in books

grow frightened, their eyes
like wormholes. Their spines

not so much broken, but the hide
abraded and peeling. The gutters

filled with debris,
plucked feathers, old yellow tape.

No one was there
to hear their last song.

And in between the last pages
were two old brown leaves

speaking in a language
only other brown leaves would know.

http://www.guernicamag.com/poetry/bourne_1_15_12/
- The poem read by the author.