In the belly of the wolf

Issue three: poem by Fija Callaghan

Illustration by Andrzej Strumiłło for Robert Stiller's Narzeczony z morza (Fiancé from the sea), published in Poland, 1971.

It’s dark inside the belly of the wolf.
           Air sharp and acrid with the scent
           of broken things: hopes, bones, stories
           we all believed as children.
           There are still daisies in her pocket still,
           foraged from the roadside
           in the safety of the woods. 
           Petals crack and crumble,
           sharp against her tender flesh—
	           	She should have chosen the path of pins.

It’s dark inside the belly of the wolf.
           She tastes the dregs upon her tongue
           of Grandmère’s silken blood
           that glistened so invitingly
           at dinner set for two.
           Tastes all those half-lived regrets;
           Grandmère’s wilted girlhood dreams,
           her soft breath of relief.
           Perhaps, she thinks, it was a mercy
           after all, to be devoured.
                      	She should have chosen the path of pins.

It’s dark inside the belly of the wolf.
           Here, the darkness gathers
           her the way Grandmère once did;
           pulls her close and whispers words
           of solace and safe passage.
           Leave your dress and shoes to burn;
           leave the girlskin you once wore.
           Leave the road you thought you knew;
           you will not need them any more.
                      	She should have chosen the path of pins.

It’s dark inside the belly of the wolf.
           She grows accustomed to the dark,
           its moods, its sighs of tenderness. 
           Forgets she had another shape
           of bones and flesh and skin. 
           When the dawn cleaves back the dark
           she thinks at first it is herself,
           her own extraordinary light.
           Instead, she feels the touch of man,
           old hungers in a new disguise.
           	        She should have chosen the path of pins.

Fija Callaghan is a storyteller and poet who has been recognised by a number of awards, including shortlisting for the HG Wells Short Story Prize in 2021. Her writing can be found in Seaside Gothic, Gingerbread House, Howl: New Irish Writing, and elsewhere. Her debut collection is forthcoming from Neem Tree Press in early 2025. Originally from the Cascadia region, she now lives in Dublin, Ireland with her books.