At night, they run toward each other,
biting off each other's tails.
They flagellate themselves
over an unknown God
who answers none of their prayers
for work, land or hope.
Hiding during the day,
they are aroused by the need
for meat at night,
their prayers not inspired by love
but by the drill to capture,
biting off the heads of the enemy
and spitting out their hearts.
Carolyn Gregory has published poems and music reviews in American Poetry Review, Cutthroat, Main Street Rag, Wilderness House Literary Review, Ygdrasil, Seattle Review. Her first and second books were published by Windmill Editions in Florida.