Feral

Boy raised by wolves, boy raised by panthers,
     boy raised by dolphins, boy raised by sequoias,
Boy raised by spirits of plant-eating dinosaurs
     boy raised by the cave behind the waterfall,
Boy raised by clouds, boy raised by snowflakes
     every snowflake different,
Boy raised by rainbows, boy raised by stars,
     that existed before this Universe
          in Universe that existed before this one,
Boy raised by a crustal embedded in bedrock
     one mile below where you stand
          or one hundred miles below
                where you stand,
Boy reared by an anaconda in the jungle
     that became his teacher and bestfriend,
Boy raised by eagles, boy raised by fireflies,
     boy raised by luna months, boy raised by pussywillows,
Owls, gorillas—boys raised by them,
Bears otters—boys raised by them,
Bigfoot, LochNess Monster—boys raised by them,
Boy raised by geodes, boy raised by aurora,
     boy raised by marijuana, boy brought up by mushrooms,
Boy nurtured by a huge field of fresh fallen snow
     with now footprints in it moonlight,
Boy raised by whales he never sees
     whose minds a mile down in the Pacific Ocean
          controls his every move,
Boy suckled by volcanoes,
Boy raised by hurricanes and earthquakes,
     tornado-raised boys,
          boy raised by echoes from sea-shells,
Boy raised by undiscovered pyramid on the Moon,
Boy raised by reflection of Mount Everest
     upsidedown in a dewdrop,
Boy raised by being able to tell
     what kind of tree
          by smelling its bark in the dark.

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