The Chainsaw Bears

The chainsaw bears love
burritos. They love summer

baseball on AM radio.
Clean skies, black

like a wet chalkboard.
They love sashimi-

grade tuna, Spanish wine,
the drive from Tuscaloosa

to Birmingham. Licking
honeysuckle in the spring.

Ghost crabs haunting pre-dawn
beaches. Sasparilla and gourmet

ice cream sandwiches. Love
old letters from seventh grade

crushes. Shredding paper
at their temp job. The lowered

mail flag, drywalling, lifting
the sheet from a made bed.

They love using slow-cookers
and the way alcohol

can put another’s hand
into theirs. Yet how will they

ever get to know this,
these painted, wooden bears?