Renee Emerson

They fill my print with cement, 
save scraps of my hair in bags. 
They imagine we are close, 
even related. 

I see no resemblance—
when have they woken
with dew in their fur
like live stars?

When have they held
a wolf cub close 
to their heart to feel 
the growl, and return it?

I think they envy me.
They always draw me walking 
alone, the way they walk,

but they don’t know me at all.
If they really knew me, they’d shoot me,
stuff me, hang me on their wall. 

Renee Emerson is the author of the poetry collections Keeping Me Still (Winter Goose Publishing 2014), Threshing Floor (Jacar Press 2016), and Church Ladies (Fernwood Press 2023). She lives in the Midwest with her husband and children, and you can find her online at reneeemerson.substack.com.