The Natural Hustle by Eva H.D

Author:Eva H.D. [H.D., Eva]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Published: 2023-03-21T00:00:00+00:00

HERON

If only I were a

heron, my long legs in the

water, wingspan

pressed freshly as the morning,

and a mouth for stabbing things.

DEAR RANCHERS, WOLVES ARE KIND

Wolves are good. Wolves love cream cheese.

A wolf walked my daughter home once, gratis,

without ever trying to steal a kiss or jugular.

Wolves laugh, too, just like coyotes and landlords.

Wolves are a great species. They have been captured

on film. A wolf can suck on hard candy without

ruining her teeth. Wolves are pack animals, they

have self-restraint, they need no toothbrushes.

Wolves have hackles just like the ones that stipple

the backs of the women that you, Dear Ranchers,

touch without asking; the hackles rise and rise, a wave

of encomium, awkward gawking of the tiptoe crowd.

Wolves love summer for how much it resembles

winter, its elder sister. They love homemade popsicles,

how the juice that trellises down their silvering jowls

is made of real juice. Wolves have a powerful thirst.

I myself have known wolves. Tone-deaf, immune to

criticism, abandoned and admired by the pack, in

equal measure, wolves I have known have failed,

repeatedly, to keep their word. The lacerations linger.

Wolves I have known to be among the best of wolves.

I have known wolves with whom I would trust my

ranch, wrench my right arm from its den of tendon.

Some of my best friends are men who dress in wolfskin.

Dear Ranchers, wolves are kind as their kind can be.

Their kits eat the same snacks afterschool as yours do.

They acquire a taste for blood as you did, hot wolf milk

scalding their infant throats. Like men they have been

known to howl all night long—and to die,

right on schedule, before their time.

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