A triumvirate
of sad-eyed raccoons
lounging on the roof
of an apartment building
in Stillwater
benignly surveys
the progress
of a striped cat’s
morning promenade
below
as another,
wearing a coon’s skin, too,
noisily scales a drainpipe
to join them.
They’ve rambled
out of the wood
for a bit of dumpster-diving
for breakfast
under the lingering morning moon and now seek
a few minutes
of leisure
to digest
and ponder
whatever worries raccoons.

T. Allen Culpepper teaches creative writing, literature, and composition at Tulsa Community College. His poetry has been published most recently in Cooweescoowee and Q Review Online. He lives in Tulsa.

Originally published in This Land, Vol. 3, Issue 18. Sept. 15, 2012.