Coyotes

By Renuka Raghavan

Fearless, this pack sees me again on the dirt path. They huff and puff, snicker and snort, like the vulgar boys of my youth who clung to the chain-link fence disrupting my swim meet with their “Hey babe, my vanilla needs some caramel on top” and “Hey babe, ditch the suit!” But these dogs are far more cunning. They are the ruling street gang with their brindle fur and drone-worthy night vision. These dogs spurn my feckless gestures. They motion to each other a silent lexicon, but they don’t mess with me this time. They know I’ll be back again.

Renuka Raghavan writes because it is safer than running around and screaming all day. She’s the fiction book reviewer at Červená Barva Press, and is a poetry reader for the Lily Poetry Review. She is also a co-founder of the Poetry Sisters Collective.