A million and a half humans inhabit here.
Barking dogs rouse sleepers with snarls.
At the city’s edge down in a valley
Balsam Poplar and White Spruce
shelter and regenerate in a park.
Geese, owls, and coyotes honk, hoot, and howl.
Black bear and cougar nose along oxbows.
The trees trace the river that follows the valley
like the extinct Plains Grizzly did
from yon Rockies onto prairies.