Bitch

Sometimes I bark and growl and
Snarl and bare my teeth

I pull hard on the chains
You have tied me down with
In order to domesticate me

I spread my legs
And give birth to these – my progeny
That you will not even come out
of your house to see

Helpless I am to their pitiful yelps
They are cold
Defenseless
Unloved

So what am I left to do?

Kill my young rather
Than see those restless pups
Left for dead by you?

No, I keep them close to me
Nipping at them
Slapping them with my paw
Doing all the things that I can do
To keep them from becoming wild, uncontrollable beasts

Day by day
I pace the yard from side to side
Anxious for a time when you forget
To lock the gate
So that I can run away – free

Angela Jackson-Brown is an English Professor at Ball State University in Muncie, IN. She graduated from Troy University in Troy, AL; Auburn University in Auburn AL; and Spalding University in Louisville, KY where she received an MFA in Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in literary journals, such as: Pet Milk, New Southerner Literary Magazine, The Louisville Review and Muscadine Lines: A Southern Journal. Her short story, “Girl, Too” is forthcoming in the September 2012 issue of Blue Lake Review.  She has presented her fiction and poetry at events like the 2009 Limestone Dust Poetry Festival and the 2009 Southern Women Writers Conference. Her short story, “Something in the Wash” was awarded the 2009 fiction prize by New Southerner Literary Magazine and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in Fiction

Tagged poetry