Like a good girl dressed in red,
I invited you in with a compliment on your eyes
and a coy flirt about the size of lips.

I remember watching as
you grew to the size of your cage
and curled fangs against bars
as though to prove there was
so much more you could be.

I thought I gave you all
the space you needed, but

you were called to the pack.
Your throat thirsted for red moon,
and fresh flesh.

You came to my door,
a wolf draped in ex lover’s skin;
stretching new covering over sharp chin,
holding roses in white teeth,
and selling charm with a dripping tongue.

But I ignored your incessant 

scratching at wooden door .
All you could do was huff and puff

 in front of my house
without understanding why
I wasn’t fooled.

You’re forgetting;
I was raised by wolves.
I know the stench of their hide
like my own sweat,

the breathe that makes neck hairs curl,
a bite in the guise of a kiss
drawing drops of blood from lower lip
a taste for carnage on the tip of tongue.Teeth that rattle like empty tequila bottles,
paws that scrap against wood floors

Charms that slur from snarled lips
in the form of soon forgotten promises.

Some of my best friends run with the pack
and I’ve slipped the trails
with the biggest and the baddest.

I have bristles on the inside of my
throat vibrating against
the sound of the howl in my gut.

Don’t stumble through my door
with a snarl on your lip
and demand more than I am willing to give.
I have silver strapped around my neck
and a woodsman ax by my bed.

I know this transformation
will only last the night,
and when you return to human form,
peering through Sunday morning’s brown eyes,
you’ll scrap the beast off your tongue,
the blood from teeth,

and sleep at the foot of my bed again.

---

Katrina Kaye is an educator, writer, publisher, artist, and community organizer. A lifelong creator, she has been published in various ezines, magazines, and anthologies. She also spent time on the performance stage, touring across the United States and participating in various poetry festivals and events, before hanging up her microphone in 2015. She continues to write, perform, and publish her own writing on the website Iron and Sulfur (ironandsulfur.com).