mother of a cub

mama girl
you

you stand in your boy’s doorway
staring
wondering why you love him
he once was so small
small enough to drink through your belly

his teeth are small villagers
his tongue
a clock tower
when he speaks
his words are chimes
his smile a bell
the roof of his mouth is metal
push your finger across
it
it will sing
he dances like a goblin
a wild wilddog boy
he sits up at night listening to the dogs behind the fields
he stands in the field hearing them
staring into the horizon
wishing to see their backs full
to feel their furs bristling
the rivers spring through life through the fall
then freeze and crack
open
again in springtime

and mother mama of a cub
you go to sleep

and your boy
he sits up
he hears the howls
he stares into the sky
mouth moving with the words
practicing the names of the dogs

Sirius
Canis Major
Canis Minor
Murzim
Wezen
Adhara
Aludra
Furud
Muliphen
swear upon this boy
swear in your sleep
tattoo this on the inside of
your skull
is the star to swear by boy
swear by it as you sleep


the moon tears a sliver from his belly and pours his silver down the throats
we are weighed down
made to stay
the trees
stood for us
we answer them with axes
the children learn to knock using them
there is one in the front door