Poem by Christina Daub

CHARGE

After the lion finishes grooming
his singular body with rough licks,
after the porcupine waddles away,
after night devours the sun,

the dark tail twitches, new scents 
worry the air, the lion stops resting 
under his rock, his large claws 
scraping the dust.

Hunger moves with the pride.
It leaps and drags, and chews 
until the bones dry inside. 
A lion may outrun a goat, or not.

Hunger is outrunning the earth.

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Christina Daub is a Pushcart nominated poet & translator. She has taught poetry and creative writing at George Washington University and other schools in the DMV area. She lives in Maryland.

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