Shapeshifter<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There is a moment
\nwhen the creature seems to disappear.
\nNothing remains, but a quivering
\nin the air, the invisible finger
\nthat runs your ridge of spine.<\/p>\n
My students ask if it hurts
\nto become another. We\u2019ve read
\nthe stories of humans furred,
\nflesh erupting to wings, or scales,
\ngill-gasp of transformation.<\/p>\n
I tell them some are stories of pursuit,
\na dove answered with a hawk,
\na hare with greyhound as reply.
\nPursuer and pursued, their deft dance
\nthat ended once with a grain of corn,
\nswallowed by a hen who birthed
\nthe storyteller, Taliesin.<\/p>\n
But what the students want to know is pain.
\nThat remembered moment when
\nquills pierce skin, fingernails bleed
\nto claws. Beyond the window
\nwinter\u2019s first kiss startles the grass with frost.<\/p>\n
I tell them yes,
\nthere is always pain at birth or when
\nour tent of flesh opens
\nlike a door to the sky,
\nand something more, you must
\nlean close to hear
\nthe single note of joy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Maureen McQuerry<\/a> is a Young Adult novelist, poet and teacher. The Peculiars,<\/a><\/em> her YA Steampunk novel, debuts in May with Abrams\/Amulet followed by Beyond the Door<\/em> and Time Out of Time. <\/em>She is also the author of two non-fiction books: Nuclear Legacy<\/a>\u00a0and Student Inquiry.<\/a><\/em> <\/em>Her poetry has been published in many literary journals including Smartish Pace, Quidditty<\/em> and The Southern Review.<\/em> Her chapbook Relentless Light<\/a><\/em> <\/em>was the winner of the New Eden Chapbook award. Maureen teaches writing at Columbia Basin College and lives with her family in Richland, Washington. “Shapeshifter” originally appeared in Endicott Review.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shapeshifter There is a moment when the creature seems to disappear. Nothing remains, but a quivering in the air, the invisible finger that runs your ridge of spine. My students ask if it hurts to become another. We\u2019ve read … Continue reading