The girl prays, her hands the form of a wolf
as if to reconstruct the shape of him,
her face in his pelt, his scent the wet earth
of den, of sanctum; prays holy, holy,
his body’s wild offering, its mystery a fire set
in her belly, such raging flames, candescence,
curling licks consuming the dry tinder –
what grows, from ash, the heat cracked shell,
her voice rises both desolate and according;
cast alms in the mountain’s bowl.

Karla Van Vliet newest book is Fluency: A Collection of Asemic Writings. Her book She Speaks in Tongues, a collection of poems and asemic writings, is forthcoming from Anhinga Press. She has two other collections from Shanti Arts and a chapbook from Folded Word. She is a Forward Prize, a three-time Pushcart Prize, and Best of the Net, nominee. Her poems have appeared in Acumen, Poet Lore, Green Mountains Review, Crannog Magazine and others.