What is important is to avoid the time allotted for disavowels as the livid wound leaves a trace leaves an abscess takes its contraction for those clouds that dip thunder & vanish like rose leaves in closed jars. Age approaches, slowly. But it cannot crystal bone into thin air. The small hours open their wounds for me. This is a woman's confession: I keep this wolf because the wilderness gave it to me. Simone Muench is the author of Orange Crush, Lampblack & Ash, The Air Lost in Breathing, and Disappearing Address. She teaches at Lewis University in Chicago, Illinois.