New Bambi
you've seen the horror before
a deer senselessly dead
by the side of a paved road
on which you must pay to drive
wonder where it goes
where it ends this highway
with a number and a name
that's been privatized
hunger and thirst force the living
to do crazy things take foolish chances
cause animals in desperation
to wander busy streets
make the accursed susceptible to
ever more manipulation
this month black birds pick at
the delicacy of unborn life
inside a disintegrating doe
in a few months if a few months come
buzzards will wait for abandoned fawns
to appear frightened and unfed
from soft beds at forest's edge
looking for their mamas
before they give up and die
the latest llm is refashioning
an old classic about it
titled new bambi
after a thorough scan
assessment and assimilation
of a library of plagiarized books
producing the suspect conclusion
there's still a market for films
about the slaughter of mothers
entertainment to turn roadside kill
into a permanent feature of the culture
advance the government’s agenda
where cruelty is the only point
diminish our ability to distinguish
between what's real and what's spewed
by the fog machines of influencers
leaving us incapable
after paying the toll
on the way to work
of sorting out what matters