Camelidae
Karoline Schaufler
I have been a llama,
spitting and frothing.
Guttural, like a Flemish street name.
I think— I wanted to sing,
but all that came out was throaty bleat
from between craggy tongue
and molars, worn down by chewing too many hats.
The girl across the street was a quasi-pachyderm too,
but a Buffalo.
Hunted to extinction,
she just kept grazing.
With snaggles in her coat,
she spoke unimpeachable French.
Said,
“how many hats would be the proper number of hats?”
and,
“sister,
sister,
sister
we are not the same species.
But, we can both be spun into wool.”
Then punctured by a thousand tiny needles:
felted.
I added that last part.
It’s just that—
I’m still a llama
There are clovers in my hoofs
but only seven bones in my neck
so I can’t see them.
Karoline Schaufler is a Pacific Northwest writer from Bellingham, Washington. She is a recent graduate from the MA English program at Western Washington University and now teaches English. Her work has appeared in The Pedestal Magazine, Funicular Magazine, and 805.