A Want for Reason

Pamplona, Spain—Two bulls broke from the pack
and gored a man and a woman on the second day
of the annual running of the bulls festival…
--from a news story

There must have been a moment
just before the bulls began to charge,
and right after Urban Troll and Anne Ruan
were tossed in the air—their bodies
bursting like piñatas—that they thought
about the hugeness of their mistake,

about the bulls’ blind desire to run
and maim anything that got in their way –
their horns hooking into flesh and bone,
leaving 8-inch gashes for exits,
while the spectators glimpsed their future
among the flowers, banners, and streamers.

It must have been a time
when they felt like deer
running ahead of Weimaraners,
when the four-leaf clover lost its luck,
and the rabbit gave up its other foot.

Consider the stupidity
of the human mind—this whore of logic—
like the instant when fingers press against the palm,
right before skull and brain
explode to the floor.