225/365

there is a hidden nature camera
somewhere in the bush at el karama lodge
in nanyuki, kenya a short drive from daraja,
that captured a male leopard panting
and flexing it’s muscular frame- like a prize fighter
before a big fight. whiskers flicking.
ears perked: aware, much like
the cats in our house.

i saw said leopard, slouched on the couch
scrolling social media on my phone
after a friday that left me spent and exhausted
preparing for a new school year.

later there’ll be a blue whale
breaching on the tiny glass square
in my hand. such majesty
consumed fleetingly like cotton candy
only on the tongue for a second
and then just sugar and breath.

when did the world travel so far away?
i have not gone camping enough with my children.
they do not know the soreness of sleeping on the earth,
a shirt saturated with the stench of fire rolled beneath the
stiff neck. the sounds beyond the tent. the silence before dawn.
the perfect disconnection from distraction.

last time i was at el karama
we were told not to leave our tents after dark,
there were leopards in the area and not on my phone.