Paradigm Beetle

iridescent green beetle
hovering around Billy's car
he knows it is going to die
soon as the traffic light changes
but in this moment of sunlight
it looks like a jewel with wings
he's never seen an insect like it before
the wing beats make a loud hum
part of him wants to save it
then the beetle moves closer
and Billy rolls up his car window
right before the light changes

---

Inktomi's Wishes

The spider does his eight-footed dance of desire:
spiraling feathers, a purple whirlwind.

I want to be pretty!  pretty!
The whisper of antelope

leaping over sage, a plume
of emulation

writhing away.

---

Doing the Numbers

in this room
dark with sunlight
leaking through blinds
the analysts have come
with their numbers
from our worldwide offices
for our yearly meeting

everything adds up wrong

everyone believes
their numbers true
but I know what's wrong
having done the math
yet say nothing

I stare through the blinds

someone in the prehistory
of this business park
designed a small duckpond
and two ducks come here

annually

only two
they make a nest
in the same place
near the pond       each time
the feral cats another analyst
insists on feeding daily
eats the eggs

---

     Dancing Bear lives in the San Francisco bay area. His poems, art interviews, reviews and photographs have been published in many journals, including New York Quarterly, Zuzu's Petals Quarterly, Slipstream, Rio Grande Review, Pearl, Poetry Motel and Nerve Cowboy. He is Editor-In-Chief of the on-line magazine Disquieting Muses (disquietingmuses.com) and the 1999 winner of the Mindfire Chapbook Contest for his manuscript Blue Hand, later this year a chapbook Atlas(Red Fruit Press) will be released. Dancing Bear is the host of a weekly poetry show "Out of Our Minds" for public supported KKUP 91.5 FM in Cupertino, CA.

Mitakuye oyasin (All my relations),
Dancing Bear

"Out of Our Minds" live 8-9 pm Pacific Time, Wednesdays a weekly hour-long radio show dedicated to poetry and poetics which airs live from 8-9pm on Wednesday nights and is produced by KKUP 91.5 FM, Cupertino. Some notable guests of the show have included Kim Addonizio, Dorianne Laux, Sandra M. Gilbert, Kathleen Lynch, C. J. Sage, Arthur Sze, C.K. Williams and C. Dale Young. Host: Dancing Bear. http://live.kkup.com:8000