Be the Wolf
By
Radiance Angelina Petro
It’s OK to stutter
when trying to speak
the poem’s desire.
“Be the wolf,” it might say
shaking your shadow
into biting back the words—
swallowing them, denying
your hunger, until you
can no longer bare it,
and drool begins dripping
from the edges of your mouth,
and you find yourself
baring your teeth, opening
your throat, and from deep in your guts,
tear apart the night—howling
into the darkness, preying
on anything that gets in the way
of your empty belly.