“Rabbit - hearted’s girl”

By Zoe Seppi

It takes your whole cotton-filled head

to prove to yourself that you don’t have to be alone

with sunken-in teeth and atmospheric eyelids,

you steel yourself for the hunter’s final blow,

not for lack of trying,

but you’re so bent over with your own frustration

you can’t see the swing of the boot kicking you down

and the lick of the steel-capped shoe 

still reads as good-natured attention.

Drown yourself in someone else’s skin,

placate your stutter between the lining of someone else’s coat,

you have no greater motive than love.

How long until the chase finally makes you loathe

that softness, that tenderness

the way you bite your own knuckles rather than just say

no.