EMILY AS THE JAGUAR WEPT
DARREN C. DEMAREE
I have seen the jungle undress
& that pre-aural song
of an origin dance
removed the will
of the giant cats, took
their teeth
from the other beasts
& showed their coats
& rolling shoulders
to be beautiful
enough to exist without
the torn meat
of a lesser-than hanging
from their epic jaws.
I started to cry
when they started to cry.
We saw Emily
headed out of the thickness
& we knew that it
no longer mattered how
beautiful we might be,
we would be hungry now
for a red to fill the landscape
she had once stripped down.
∘∘∘