The Wildlife Reserve for Dangerous Prey

                                                      Theodosia Henney

 

​

Put away your cervine grief/close it in

 

             a house of blue dirt vast

as any prairie/let it live

 

             in comfort elsewhere/four-hooved

heart unhunted/grant me

 

             an amphibious life/grant me gills

of this world its history & lungs to stumble

 

             onto shore/corral too

the white elk of your dread antlers sloughing

 

             velvet/poison is medicine too

in small doses/shoo the flock

 

             of golden fowl

your pride/I know only a lack

 

            of absolutes/to ask questions not gods

tell me the hunger

 

            of luminescent single cells

how to forgive/each anxious rabbit

 

            its place in my throat/wave on doubt’s

dense creature/don’t whistle

 

           its mating call/the world we arrive to

is gone/may as well let the instincts you contain

 

reveal their teeth

 

Girls Become Expert

​

 

Once designated a she

what’s she beyond

a strap of rawhide

to bite down on

& hem silent codes

for survival into stockings

curtains pockets lined

with small bills

& unvoiced no

girls beg for singing

lessons so we learn

to scream even that

done beautiful

​

​

​

​

​

​

Theodosia Henney is the poetry editor at Cactus Heart Press and an MFA candidate at the University of Minnesota. When not squinting at typeface they enjoy baking, crafting, and expanding their necktie collection. More information exists at theodosia-henney.com.

​

​

​