Monday, August 07, 2006

#106: August 7, 2006

When someone said the autumn moon was full
I crouched and curled my fingers into claws.
My body itched with hair; I stretched my jaws,
a sudden fang-sprung trap. I felt the pull
of tides in veins and rode the shift in phase
into animal realms. The smell of blood
spoke to me in a tongue I understood.
I traded clumsy steps for lupine grace.
And if I'd met an old man or a child
I would have ripped out trachea and bayed
my blasphemy into God's silver eye!
But then I looked and saw it was a lie--
I shrank and slunk away, no longer wild,
beneath a new-moon sky where few stars played.

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