Cats of the West

field fog dissipates
fraying as shadows grow small
sun parabolic blasting
another woolen beast
will grow again before dawn


surf to the beaches where turtles nest
best test lest they cannot crest
above the waves on their buoyant breasts
protect them from gulls with a wet dress
stomp on the crabs to keep them at bay
help baby turtles get through the affray
to swim out to sea with the dawning of day!


loving ain't easy it's more like a plight
might as well try mowing a stone
don't let the wondering keep you up all night
you can't figure this out on your own
one could be perfect in the right frame of light
or seen through a lens not their own
rest and in dreaming you will take flight
and in the morning they might throw you a bone



You call it "The West" but we just call it home.
Y'all came out here to live now you ain't leavin with your bones
Told us bout your prophets and your souls and your childish notions
Look around you: Las grandes montañas, junglas y rios
in disharmony with five oceans
You talk about hellhounds because you're too feeble
to handle the truth of raw natural evil
stay in the East, stay in the middle
Laramidia's got nothing for your Bard's little fiddle
you wanna talk dogs? Let's talk MesoAmerica
tell us again which dogs are superior
Eastern dogs came here and won
except for a single individual pup
they live on today, immortal and such
canine transmissable tumor they call him
genetically mutated from a four-legged friend
this "disease" is now global, his story won't end
You think covid's bad? Wait til you get deep
into the jungle you burn for your meat
moo vacacitos, moo loud and long
the ends of your Progress is the end of our song.



up here with this rude substratum
where time runs the spectrum every flavor of late
here's where we all ride burro-sized atoms
and the sand badgers burrow in perlite to brumate
in this land of the desert mountains and chasms
coyotes bisect cats with no malice or hate


What artillery howitzer brash and loud is this?
a guy with a goat and a beard in the mix?!?
This miraculous shell blasts through our defenses:
The simple pure comfort of animal friendses
a primate on two hands ungulate on four feet
in brisk winter air snuggle together for heat