Field Trip

Taxidermy wolf melts into rug

spine fails
when its made to hold you up strong.

The boy told me

he said
this wolf
he loves America
he wears and breathes America,

I point out his shell hands
with Uncle Sam’s fingernails sharpened to a lethal point.

The girl told me

she said
this jewelry is so beautiful
the women they wear it with their long dark braids
and make music with its whistles

I say yes
it is beautiful
but the wood is dark
and the women
they make music when bears touch them like salmon

Catherine Fisher is a first year at Whitman College where she works at the literary magazine and talks too excitedly to strangers’ dogs. She prefers short bios.