Broiling sun with muggy airFilled our limbs with torporAnd drenched our foreheads with sweat.We held thumbs over the end of the garden hoseAnd sprayed cold water over us until we squealed,But were hot again in minutes.

A raven preens its feathers,Its roost, a cottonwood with tiny new leaves.A fox hunts--arcing nose-dive for a mouse.

We try to watch, a hopeful distraction from pain,Relentless, stabbing, filling our bodies, our souls.By night the pain fills his every cell, my every pore.

The bandit springs from nowhere

Scurrying over thin deck railings with lush furry tail holding balance.

Its sleek brown pelt taut over rippling muscles

As it leaps from limb to limb to find a tasty morsel.

Anxiety is a werewolf you become.

It hides, angry, sullen, alone.

Until your teeth become its fangs ready to attack, your hair its fur, on end.

Anxiety—yourself no more, personality gone, brain lost.

Gunshots in the synagogue.Screams resound, bones shatter, blood pools, worshipers lay dead.Senseless in this holy place.Sitting ShivaWhile we argue gun control in tweets and savor our lattes.

Bombs at the marathon.Runners, bystanders maimed by ragged bits of steelLodged in bleeding legs and arms.More security, more police, more cameras fill the worldWhile we vow to conquer terrorism and Isis and nosh on lunch.

I was stalked by a tiger

Dark and golden fur on soft paws

Melting into grasses of camouflage.

A mouth of saber teeth tore apart my skull.

Sun glints on sparkling morning sea. I walk the beach and spy a shrimp boat bobbing, Booms outstretched eager for the catch. Who controls the numbers seized? Menus filled with shrimp, fried, boiled, baked, will we eat them all?

Joggers and runners, ear buds in, red-faced, panting, sweating, enduring their mile, their five miles. Fanny packs and backpacks bounce, holding their devices. They listen: music, news, texts, emails. The splendid sound of waves, the shells, the sand, are lost.