Andy Roberts
Hawk and Cop
In Chester, West Virginia,
wife visiting a friend,
I’m wasting time by
walking railroad tracks.
Bend down to touch steel rails
warmed by March sun.
No one around except for one cop,
who slows down to examine my behavior.
I turn over a dead starling with my stick.
Pick up a dead ladybug, weightless
as I bounce it in my palm.
Look east to the Alleghenies.
Wind’s knife slits eyes shut.
Red hawk circling thermals.
Hawk and cop watching
every move.
Decide to head back
to the house.
Feeling like a cotton tail,
a white tailed deer,
an unhoused human
with no ID.
Other work by Andy Roberts