Canis Nervosa

Crimson aromas

wake

tongue’s taste

for blood.

tooth-white enamel,

tinged;

foul, ferrous breath.

Caked on the chin,

frothing,

oozing with glut,

for dining

on marrow;

foraging

fresh flesh.

Wounds inflict wounds;

age ferments

the red seas.

Unstitching

healed scars for

bloodletting by leech —

craving affliction;

bleeding for

the bleed

of canis nervosa:

pain

eating

at

me.