Ekphrasis for a GIF

See how the raccoon lets slip from its graspin the wet light of morning or recent rain

a square of cotton candy. Its hands attemptto hold what isn’t there. They fish the pond.

They search the sculpted rocks arrangedaround its edges. The animal does not know

the air inside spun sugar, or how its fabricis an easy unmaking. When the raccoon starts

to understand, sugar returns to its mouththen slips its hold again. The animal’s palms

press into loss to meet each other. They fish upair and empty. The raccoon is set so close

inside the frame, it makes another cagefor sugar and the raccoon’s frantic searching.

See how unseeing hands traverse the dividebetween hope and its leaving. Light flung

like coins in the pond, on raccoon stirringits palms into water. See how the candy

is lost and how it returns, how the raccoon seesthrough its hands into blindness. Sugar held

inside the raccoon’s mouth, and raccoon heldinside the frame. Its hands search the water

and find only water. It is not done lookingat that seamed moment when the world resets

into sugar and mouth again, waiting to be lost.