Vulpes
I was a fox before you knew me.
Felt things better with paws
that gave in to each crevice of pine needle,
killed prey quick with playful leaps
to make dark blood flowers bloom
in the snow. It might be the laughter
I miss most, open to teeth and the rest
came through. You begin to suspect
what a trick it is, having any kind of body.
Cold nips and carves, winter rattles
the trees’ bones. But the elms give nothing
away. They were how I used to think
of the living, until I was human
and I knew the living would want more.
Published online June 01 2012.
Heather Davidson has a BA in Creative Writing from Concordia University. Her poetry and fiction appear in publications including The Antigonish Review, Descant and The New Quarterly.
This piece was published in ‘In Nature’s Fold: Animism in Poetry,’ the Summer 2012 issue of CV2.
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