Imprinting

One day, I was changing my daughter's diaper
when a dog began to howl.  Just the mad howl
of a pent-up dog, but we both stopped breathing.
When I looked down at her again
I could see the wonder in her slack jaw,
the fear in her alexandrite eyes.
The shivering in my spine had just
subsided when I told her "dau"
which is her word for dog.   She took
this idea quickly and the fear was gone
leaving only the wonder in her mouth.
It was then that I told her "werewolf".
Someday, she will shiver in the daylight.

                published in Wind Row, vol. 2, no. 1, Fall, 1983
                this poem shared the Jerard Merit Award for Poetry, 1983.