if you want to bark // don’t bite ~ August Stephens

Really, I’m not like you. I am not made
out of fangs or an unlockable snake jaw.
I was made in another discourse of soft
fur and smooth calls, a lure to another’s
crate. You are shapeshifting after three

secretive months but I’ve seen this rivalry
before. Your talk is spitting venom, I see
the chase coming— I see you toying
with me in your mouth, burning out
the syllables which shriek. I am sharp
and uncalloused, I am sharp and mending
my own rosy flesh, I am sharp and waiting

for you behind the tree in a past life. In all
my power I am chest out and howling—
I still find your dry bite along my neck, you
suck out the parts of me you refuse. Hiss
when you’re done. It’s an empty bark.