New Welsh Review

howl

howl wants to be clean
as a crow’s beak bones
under the moon bright
open to the night
stripped tongue-red licked
raw sternum to hip bark
bruised shape of
teeth pressed to
the skin of the tree

what girl doesn’t long
to be eaten by the woods

smell of cold earth turned
trickster grin heart slick
gnawed from her wet
warm muzzle on skin
blood moon clavicle shine
star-spun spat left
cracked

open as a jawbone
catching moonlight
mouth pooled black

 

Gray Behagg is a queer, nonbinary poet and nurse based in Brighton. Their work has appeared in Ambit, Magma, Poetry Wales, The Emma Press Anthology of Love, the Morning Star, The North, the Poetry Review, The Rialto and The Scores, among others. They won the Bridport Prize for poetry 2013. Twitter: @bigsadjuice Insta: dad_slippers_