it's 10 pm.
i note the ember of your cigarette emerging among your dark porch
murmurs.
i am walking home
to my dorm with a locked door
"beautiful night tonight, huh?"
my mouth is sewn shut
and my heart is a deep, wooden drum
men are not supposed to howl,
and women are not supposed to sit idly by
at your bared, smiling teeth
i am not walking by for your entertainment.
i want that tattooed on my bones.
i have never walked so quickly
with fear at my heels
i should not have to walk alone at night
with my keys laced between my fingers
because i am afraid of the wolves.