Will the Real Jaws Please Stand Up

A.J. Huffman

 

You see me as a seal.
Mistake.
I am really just
a piranha wearing politically incorrect boots.                                                                                                            You tell me I smell innocent.                                                                                                                                         I give up trying
to explain it’s just the latest pop-star-princess                                                                                                           perfume. You smile,
show me your teeth.
I giggle like a schoolgirl,
knowing I can slip right through their gaps.                                                                                                               You circle, believing
you are above me.
I bat my eyes at your exposed underbelly.                                                                                                                   It’s your move, but I take it.
We both smell blood at the same time.
You sink to the bottom, hopelessly
confused as I swim away.

A.J. Huffman’s poetry, fiction, haiku, and photography have appeared in hundreds of national and international journals, including Labletter, The James Dickey Review, and Offerta Speciale, in which her work appeared in both English and Italian translation.