Mask

It is not that easy.

You do not just open the mouth of the bird

and become the other thing—

the wolf, the bear, the frog that was swallowed,

the human. The human who does not fly,

who cannot without magic travel to the floor of the sea

and speak to the decision-makers among fishes.

The mouths clatter in the night if they are not tied shut.

We are tired of you!

Change into something else!

The human who gets cold in winter.

Sometimes the fish come back in our bodies

in hopes of saying something to us.

I will swallow your arm and change it—

I will swallow your head—