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