martyr of the hunt
she rests high-headed
in the sun

while we mill
shiver and click
behind the glass

in a flash
her jaw unhinged
skull crowned with fangs

and great tender
blood-lapping tongue

two creatures in one
pulse never rising
above our station

—
Zenobia Frost is the coordinating editor of Cordite Poetry Review. Her work has appeared in Voiceworks, Overland, Southerly and The Lifted Brow and been shortlisted in the 2013 Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize and Thomas Shapcott Prize. Her debut poetry collection, Salt and Bone, is out now through Walleah Press.@zenfrost

Image: Vernon Swanepoel