It was an act of defiance
I laboured under.
The animal body examined itself.
From under the rags of self-loathing
I found out the holy itch
and struck out after it
I got a baby blowing inside me
stretching a hole into my skin
for its animal to fit.
It had a physical effect
as the brain dried out in my head :
all the gifts my culture gave me -
reason, ego, spirit, will -
cut up like a side of beef
now the flesh grows back between.
I asked a hundred mothers
and they all told me this same thing:
mind shrinking back
under skull’s grin
will never rule again.
