It’s absurd if you think about it—
a specter appearing before we die
with a scythe? Absurd in part
because specters are wasted on the dying.
What of the animals?
Is there a boney specter-raccoon harvesting
coons caught by the hounds?—
a giant skeletal Clydesdale for the Budweiser horses?
Maybe so.
Maybe there’s a place full of spectral animals,
some creepy-boney petting zoo
teeming with fleshless creatures disappearing
when they collect their late counterparts
and then reappearing in an odd display.
A neutral place
where they exist, silently disappearing
and reappearing over and over—
some dark spine-chilling disco-zoo
with pale strobing animal-reapers popping in and out
like spooky dancers.