i could chew my arm off and you still wouldn’t be able to smell the metal

living like a rabid beast
frothing at the mouth
biting air and snapping swallows
has nothing to do with revenge
or paybacks

it’s about how the hair
down my back courses with
the realization that there are
predators in the calm, cool
dew-dropped greens

posing as dahlias
and daisy’s