our first lightning
          strike was convulsive
         we felt sad for our
       violence after
      exterminating
      wolves and bison
      we do not need a
       doctor to say
        dance dance 
         dance before
           the song 
             runs out
               learn how
               to live so
              wilderness
             never
            becomes
          mythology
        we put them
      in parks to be
    wild on purpose
  a museum of fur
fangs and hooves

Copyright © 2023 by CAConrad. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on May 29, 2023, by the Academy of American Poets.