the animal eats

by Kristin Lueke

some evenings on earth an even darker wolf wins.

the body, god help it, can bear more than the mind.

while i plead after goodness, the meat of me tenders. 

i could scream. we both know i won’t stop. 

i have an angel i hate. they won’t shut up about grace.

i have a heart & it howls for blood. 

who am i to say what is mine to feed? 

the moon wanes. the animal eats. 

Kristin Lueke is a Chicana poet living in northern New Mexico. She is the author of the chapbook (in)different math, published by Dancing Girl Press. Her work has appeared in Wildness, HAD, Anti-Heroin Chic, Hooligan, the Santa Fe Reporter, and elsewhere.