It’s hard to be inconspicuous

when you’re hanging upside down,

and not to trip the suspicious

nature of folks in the old part of town.

They go out looking for monsters.

She’s just a werewolf stretching her back,

while they’re like a bunch of mobsters

who will organize their attack.

So she swung out of the tree

before they saw her teeth or fur,

and let out a howl, lonely but free

under the shade of the juniper.