Cassandra Whitaker
Take One Mouth and Consume the Mouth of Another.
Wolves keep springing from bodies of wolves.
Out of one springs the mother. Out of the mother
springs the father. Further off a charmer sings
to the moon who turns the other way
for departure. All of the earth’s worn teeth grow
sharp again. All of the moon’s pleasure diminish
again. All wolves grow emptiness larger, larger,
larger. All wolves cry vowels to the moon. The moon
rhymes emptiness with loneliness, turns away
to borrow its happiness. A wolf comes out
of the body of a wolf, a wolf leaves a body
of a wolf, a wolf escapes a body of a wolf
as a wolf slips through a body of the wolf.
Take one tail and tie it to another. Take one
howl and rhyme it with the other. There is a mouth
that needs no other, there is a mouth that is its mother,
take one mouth and consume the mouth of another.
Out of one springs the mother. Out of the mother
springs the father. Further off a charmer sings
to the moon who turns the other way
for departure. All of the earth’s worn teeth grow
sharp again. All of the moon’s pleasure diminish
again. All wolves grow emptiness larger, larger,
larger. All wolves cry vowels to the moon. The moon
rhymes emptiness with loneliness, turns away
to borrow its happiness. A wolf comes out
of the body of a wolf, a wolf leaves a body
of a wolf, a wolf escapes a body of a wolf
as a wolf slips through a body of the wolf.
Take one tail and tie it to another. Take one
howl and rhyme it with the other. There is a mouth
that needs no other, there is a mouth that is its mother,
take one mouth and consume the mouth of another.
Cassandra Whitaker (she/they) is a trans writer from Virginia whose work has been published in Michigan Quarterly Review, Beestung, Conjunctions, and other places. They are a member of the National Book Critics Circle and an educator.
Tw @wattersoncass, Inst @cassstevie
Tw @wattersoncass, Inst @cassstevie