“Such strangers will have to hide

and take cover before the caretakers

of the trail arrive tomorrow.

They will efficiently find all wildness

from the storm and make sure that

it is all discarded and hauled to the dump.

“Perhaps I am looking for nature

in all the wrong places.

Here it has been collared and leashed

and rendered docile.

Still it fights back.

My hopeful dog directs my attention to the stream

and points to an otter that sinks when I look.

‘Maybe this time, boss?’ he implores.

Overhead, three noisy geese, free as you please,

as insolent as if they were twenty,

announce their imminent landing

at the county water control pond.

Not all of us are on a leash yet.’’

 
— From “Down the Urban Trail,’’ by Ahellas Alixopulos