Roy Woolley

Minotaur 

They found him in the guts of the city 
on one of our holy nights. Zoned-out. 
Lost to the world. Face to the wall. 
Done over by locals looking for sport. 

Still yelling when the cops arrived:
two guys on the graveyard shift
who clocked him once and called for backup. 
Later, darts from a zookeeper’s gun 

shut him down, deep into dreams 
only I could wake him from.
Records say three men were needed 
to load him onto the gurney,

but all I remember is a delicacy of step, 
the calm appraisement of the contours 
of my face, his aching awareness
of what was still to come. 

Roy Woolley lives and works in Derby (UK). Recent work has appeared in Gallus (Poetry Scotland), The Crank (https://www.thecrankmag.com/) and the Hammond House poetry/song competition anthologies Stardust (2021) & Changes (2022).