WHEN TO RAISE HAT
As a gesture of politeness, a man raises his hat.
The hat should be very slightly tilted forward.
A man raises his hat when greeting a woman he knows.
A man raises his hat when addressed.
When walking with a man. When his companion.
With a woman, he lifts anyone the woman
greets. If he passes. Man, accompanied by woman, tilted
slightly forward, raises, whether he knows or not, his hat.
Tilted. A gesture, slightly forward.
Walking, he raises. His companion should be truly raised.
Man, when stopped by woman acquaintance,
should remove and remain. Bare. Until they part.
The woman should request. Replace. If
weather. Very cold. Otherwise unpleasant.
The hat should be very slightly tilted forward.
A man raises his hat when greeting a woman he knows.
A man raises his hat when addressed.
When walking with a man. When his companion.
With a woman, he lifts anyone the woman
greets. If he passes. Man, accompanied by woman, tilted
slightly forward, raises, whether he knows or not, his hat.
Tilted. A gesture, slightly forward.
Walking, he raises. His companion should be truly raised.
Man, when stopped by woman acquaintance,
should remove and remain. Bare. Until they part.
The woman should request. Replace. If
weather. Very cold. Otherwise unpleasant.
THE GOSPEL OF THE WOLF
You were so old, child. When you
slid out: Your tail, your active ears --
Your fingernails lacerate. The wet
ridge of your gums breaks.
I've given up smoothing
your wire hair, shaping your lipless
mouth for consonants.
I am prepared.
My bones will be white.
ANNETTE C. BOEHM is a German poet and scholar currently finishing her PhD at USM's Center for Writers. Her chapbook The Five Parts of Love -- Confabulating Sappho is available from dancing girl press. She serves as a poetry reader for Memorious -- A Journal of New Verse and Fiction and blogs here: annettecboehm.wordpress.com. She is a runner up for the 2015 Product Poetry Prize for her poem "When to Raise Hat."