The Putative Alpha Male Dreams of His Triumph / by Rich Hobbs

The putative alpha male dreams of his triumph,

Of how he’ll snap his ageing rival’s spine!

The putative alpha male’s planning his triumph

Thinking "In hours all of this is mine!"

The putative alpha male basks in the triumph

He'll celebrate emerging from obscurity,

Considers how he'll rend his rival’s children

Preserving thus his clan's genetic purity!

The putative alpha male bunches his fists up

And pounds them in a tattoo on his chest

And thinks about the sex & feasts & slaughter

That he will soon command at his behest!

The putative alpha male smiles at the triumph

He'll enjoy once he destroys his foes!

The putative alpha male savours the triumph

He'll taste, like salt, as he compounds their woes!

The putative alpha male pant hoots his triumph

In his mind: the gore, the broken bones,

The cringing, fawning, grovelling, supplication,

How each of his adversaries atones.

The putative alpha male's shaking a thorn bush!

The putative alpha male stamps on the branch!

The putative alpha male sees in his mindseye

Their severed heads in one great avalanche!

The putative alpha male grunts with contentment

And teases at a scab caught in his pelt

As the setting sun lengthens the shadows

Of the whitened skulls across the veldt!

The putative alpha male is crowned in glory

In his dreams, establishing the onus

Of brute superior violence as the clear proof

That this year he deserves his annual bonus.