Predation is
a lovely thing.
Efficient and
sweet on the tongue.
If a predator
becomes prey,
no matter as the meat
is no less sweet.
You aren’t used to it,
at all — this sense
of being stalked.
This sense of
teeth behind you
glistening.
Welcome to
how it is
for most. As it has been
for those who’ve long lived
ahead of you and
your teeth. You never
thought of yourself
as a predator and
thinking like prey
doesn’t come any easier —
those have never been
your terms. Welcome, then,
to the new dictionary
of how you are going to have
to survive. Learn
predator, prey, consumer,
consumption, product,
commodity. Learn
escape, camouflage,
resistance, flight,
fight, fight or flight.
Learn or die. Remember
that you started this
and were oblivious
to how it worked
for a long time. Try to forget
how sweet it tasted.
Try to taste, instead, the fear
in the meat you used to savor.
Taste it on your own lips.