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A Wild Heart

She is turning into a cat
that offers dead mice to its owners.
Her chat window with him
is a one-sided list of songs
and sentences from books
he will never read.

She is turning into a penguin
that offers stones to its partner.
She sends him a list of cities, of hotels
where they had sex.

She is turning into a wild crow
who leaves keys or earrings or rocks
for the person who feeds it.
She sends him a picture of her
in a sari and a low-cut blouse
hoping to show him what
he should want to touch.

She is turning into a raccoon,
foraging for food
in the dark of the night.
She sends long chatty messages
to him while he sleeps.

After seven days of silence,
three days more than last time,
She decides that he has died.

She becomes a coyote,
carrying the carcass
of his silence for the rest of her life.

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Shikha Valsalan grew up in Dubai and India, and currently lives in Atlanta,USA. She works as a digital product manager in her day job, and writes in her free time.