keep it
there's something missing
i see a body in the mirror unclothen
small breasts and a matted tuft of fur
when i raise a palm in greeting so does she
so that’s that, at least it should be
but this thing just keeps on finding me
squeezing in through whatever holes it can
and i know i can’t name it
else it’ll stay here…
but it’s cold as hell outside
and when i raise my boot above my head
i just can’t bring myself to do it
if there’s such thing as silence i can’t hear it
just the rampant swallowing in my throat
and now, dipping in and out of me, these rodents
some stiff and dead
others soft and in motion
you say “there’s something different"
i mutter through the phone it’s just a cold
only cuz i know you can’t take it
these critters crawling through my tunnels
the places where my new fur grows
but whatever denial there was left in me
it’s been gnawed through
so i give myself a name and let me stay here