by Terry Belew
The Great Raccoon War
Slipping beneath tin sheets
of pole barns, devouring
cattle feed and corn. Shoot them on sight.
They only come at night. Set out poison.
A mother and kit skid
down trees, tiny thumbs thumbing
noses. A dozen furred bodies
in a shed one-night, poisoned
tongues forever licking grave Poison is better than lead,
get the dead ones out of the shed.
One hisses from a trap, smiles
before slipping
into the drowning bucket.
Another gives birth in a crawl space. Beneath the floor. They’re beneath us
Chattering like a hailstorm— Set out poison shoot them on sight.
One night a snarler snaggled
with the dog. Another night
the trash emptied on the lawn. They are unafraid.
Another one swelling.
They have grown bold.
Another curdles
the night air. Another thought killed
returns and ambulates.
Terry Belew lives in Missouri and is a student in the low-residency MFA program at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. A Poetry Editor at The Good Life Review, his work has appeared or is forthcoming in journals such as Meridian, Storm Cellar, Tar River Poetry, The American Journal of Poetry, and The Fourth River, among others.
Kateryna Bortsova is a painter–graphic artist with BFA in graphic arts and MFA. Kateryna’s work appeared in many international exhibitions (Taiwan, Berlin, Munich, Spain, Italy, USA, etc.). In addition, she won a silver medal in the category “realism” from “Factory of Visual Art,” New York, USA, and the 2015 Emirates Skywards Art of Travel competition in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Gulf Stream Magazine 