Little Red
I
My mother sent me into the woods,
pushed me
gently forward, and locked
the wooden door
against the snow.
I met my father
on the path, his back
a jagged mountain side.
He smelled my mother’s blood,
reached through the trees,
traced my face and neck
with his claws.
Hush, he said.
Grandmother found me
burned the tattered red cape
that lay at my feet,
washed my naked body,
picked the wolf’s coat
from my torn skin,
slicked back my wet hair.
She whispered, Hush.
Hush, Child.
Hush the lock’s click, the gnashing teeth, the pumping heart,
the blood of the wolf and the lungs inside you.
Hush the howl, Child.
Animal you’ll surely become.
II
My daughter was born in winter
from the belly
of the hunter.
I stitched
her inside him
myself
with golden string.
A pregnant carcass
in the snow,
he was beautiful.
III
My Dearly Beloved,
we are the hunted.
You too are animal:
black-eyed, muscled,
matted fur and twitching back.
One day, your skin
will grow too tight
you will finger
your scalp,
pull at your eyelids,
open you mouth wide
in the mirror.
Then your dress
will stretch
until the buttons pop,
and fur will cover you
like gray morning.
The fear will come first,
then the hunger.
When you are naked
you must
run,
run
with your hunched back
exposed,
through the field
and over the river.
Run
to the woods
and disappear.
They will try to take
everything from you.
But please remember
to rake the bark
and open the flesh
the of trees.
Claim the woods
as your own.
Please
believe your body
is capable
against their machines
and silver bullets.
Do not
fear man, and mothers,
and fathers
and guns,
and burnt rubber.
Girl with a crown of bone,
fill your lungs,
show your teeth.
Howl for your mother.
It’s the only thing
that will scare them.
Brittany Hailer has taught creative writing classes at the Allegheny County Jail and Sojourner House as part of the Words Without Walls program. Her work has appeared in Hobart, The Fairy Tale Review, HEArt Online, Barrelhouse, and elsewhere. She is the Voices Unlocked reporter for PublicSource and MFA program assistant at Chatham University.