Cynthia White
What Happened
Only later, examining the scat—
tapered, still warm—did I believe
in your muscled haunch, your golden tail
switching out of view. Lord of the Forest,
panther, puma, catamount, cougar—
even your silence had fled. There was
a trail, a snarl of sweet pea and rye.
Then a clearing.
At the ranger station, I was given a form.
Describe the encounter. Six seconds?
How I longed to have suffered
wonder. Or a cleansing
panic, as when jolted from a dream.
I wanted my story killer—
moonlight, a screech owl, the rabbit
bloody and struggling.
Back to Issue XII…
Cynthia White’s poems have appeared in Adroit, The Massachusetts Review, ZYZZYVA, Southern Poetry Review, New Letters, Poet Lore, and Plume, among others. She was a finalist for Nimrod’s Pablo Neruda Prize and the winner of the Julia Darling Memorial Prize from Kallisto Gaia Press. Her poem “She Said Stop Here” was recently included in the preface to Alma Mater by London playwright Kendall Feaver. Her debut chapbook Glossogenesis will be published by Sundress Publications in 2025.
