Never Marry a Werewolf by Mary Ann Honaker

Never Marry a Werewolf

We were in the car laughing,
probably at some bad pun
one of us had quipped. You
with the daylight spritzing

your blonde tresses, a smile
reminding me of our first date—
to see Star Trek: Nemesis,
to this day a favorite of mine—

when you said, “I’m not a goth
because of this: see,” and grinned,
pointing at your own face.
But at this moment in the car

I was trying to ignore the wolf
gnawing my liver. My wolf
had come for us, and I knew
it would make me run

into the night alone, soon.
But then we were laughing,
you full of electric crackle,
me sounding to myself

like clanging inside
an empty bucket. Part
of me cherishing this last
laugh together of a past

full of inside jokes
and code phrases, part
mourning the wolf’s hunger,
the rending it would require.

by Mary Ann Honaker

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Editor’s Note: This poem’s emotional narrative runs beneath and inside the outward scene, mirroring the difficulty of the human condition with all of its wild origins.