being an animal doesn’t end at the door to leave my house,
when i tie uncomfortable laced shoes over my bent hooves,
it doesn’t end when i try to socialize with humans
and end up looking at them like a confused wild thing standing across from them in a store,
it doesn’t end when i’m clear-headed
and i can form coherent thoughts, and can think enough to ask myself what i really am,
i step out of the woods
and stand next to humanity on the bus,
in a library,
and in a restaurant,
and sometimes they meet my eyes
and know i take my animalness with me
with every step i take towards them.
my beasthood is a marriage vow
in sickness and in health
i am an animal.
