Familiar Canids

In my dog brain I am easily loved or mauled.
In my dog brain I sense I’m sealed
inside something metal, air temperature rising.

my I-ness keeps sloughing

The subject’s position :
kennel, wire door,
bloodflecked.

hyper       vigilant

I can feel (a whisper
along my nerves) the apex
predator circling.

Jill Khoury earned her Masters of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University. She teaches writing and literature in high school, university, and enrichment environments. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in numerous journals, including Lines+Stars, Copper Nickel, Inter|rupture, and Arsenic Lobster. Her chapbook Borrowed Bodies was released from Pudding House Press. You can find her at jillkhoury.com.