MADELINE CRAWFORD

Lupa my lupa

it’s from the river
I lap up that eternal water
I paddle as the dog I’d become

there the twins
who found their virgin mother’s nipples dry
revere my breast
cry lupa my lupa
ask where do wolves live

I show them my nest

these baby heads
impressed
order me
with my lupa paws
to build a city

where there is a difference
between branch and limb

Madeline Crawford lives, teaches Latin, and writes in London. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in or are forthcoming in Die Quieter Please, mnemotope, Paloma Magazine, dadaku, The Mantelpiece, and Vast Chasm, among others. She has worked as a reader and editorial assistant for A Public Space. She went to Hunter College and received her MA in Classics from University College London.