Animals Need Animals

The teeth of your black ditch are sweet like the rest
 Of the thin-lipped, sharp-hipped
 Fierce things that animals show
 White like the laughter of smoke in the chest
 Long after
 The brightness of the fields' teeth go
 The child-mother yells in vi'lent madness
 But your tight skin confessed not a vein in your chest
 And the way that your breast did hang low
 Animals need animals before the winter comes
 The metal air swarms across those plains
 My long-necked, freckle-specked, heavy-chested, trust-invested sows her
 breath into my chest and hums
 Now what kind of county line
 Holds her remains
 Your grey frame in winter is delicately hued
 The eyes are so wearisome
 The greens have all blued
 And what could it mean
 That they once were so green
 And now they're just starving for food
 And I am hungry too
 For you
 ©2008 Matthew Milia