Sharkbite Bob

Sharkbite Bob told the pretty girls
in southern California
he lost his leg to a shark
off the port side
of his sailboat
while swimming with otters.

Part Comanche,
a fearless man, a little shy of 66 inches
in his tan Timberlands.
He was a long-distance truck driver.
Sharkbite lost his leg
to thrombosis.

Early one Sunday, last year,
he lost his life to exiles
of the Soda Butte wolf pack,
in Yellowstone.

All they found was his camera
some aluminum pipe -
all that remained of his left leg,
and some bones,
gnawed by bears.

The last picture
recovered from his camera
the hungry pack surrounding him
as he balanced on a log in the clearing.
Crowded together
jowl to jowl
muzzles wrinkled,
dripping with saliva
eyes aglow
in the red light of
the morning hunt.