ANIMAL KINGDOM

by Sophia Valesca Görgens

 

 

A whole room of them,
where water pooled
outside caged kennel runs
only there wasn’t enough room
to run. They paced,
keyed up and muscles tight
with jittered energy,
the smell of me strong
in their dark, loamed noses.
From the left, one jumped
and rattled the metal
while his neighbor gnashed
and gnawed his own paw.
The barking was indecipherable—
was mad, a wave of
slipping syllables
washing and echoing
against cement. The quiet ones
cornered, flanks pressed
into the wall while ears
swiveled in alarm
as two further down
butted heads through
the cage mesh. Bowls overturned
and a dog eating his own
feces. He grinned lurid—
the teeth caught me
by surprise. Too close.
I stumbled out, blinded
by their need, silent
howls of the caged animals.

 

 

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