Like Bears, a poem by Robert McDermott

Other than a sense that the future was
Somewhere not yet ready for us.

It was as if they’d taken down the sun and moon for cleaning

And let the world return to something like what it was,

Or, more accurately, like it should be,

But we were indoors watching Netflix and poking our faces in fridges

Like bears just awoken by the scratching Wolverine telling us that it was spring

And that summer was on its way and that
If we didn’t go outside and experience it

As intended,

We’d have learned nothing from our gifted hibernation.