Wolves

Chelsea Fanning

The Scorpio sun cuts across our faces, throws

our shadows behind us in sharp relief, the edges

crisp and clean as a razorblade. We’re told monsters

only hunt at night, but that is an old fairytale.

In packs of three, we walk arm-in-arm into the woods,

swinging our baskets full of strawberry jam and frosted cakes

and sour cherry pies. We devour tender summer apples,

lose our boots and run barefoot into a mountain stream,

the hems of our red dresses soaked and coated

in mud. When the wind whips through the trees, we let it

grab our braids, ribbons snatched by branches,

long locks matted with leaves and twigs. It isn’t far

to grandmother’s house under the three big oaks,

we hear her braying song beg us come faster. We smell

the roast of fresh meat she’s prepared, fat spitting

over an open fire. When we get there, we’ll set the table,

claws sharp and maws stretched to receive our bounty.

Such big eyes, we have. Such big teeth.

CHELSEA FANNING is a poet, editor, witch from New Jersey. Her debut poetry collection, To Love a Fierceness So Bright, is forthcoming from Nymeria Press in 2025. Her poetry has been nominated for the Best of the Net award and has appeared in OyeDrum, Mom Egg Review, Miniskirt Magazine, and elsewhere. Chelsea is the poetry editor at Fatal Flaw Magazine.