Full Moon

By Adam Phillips

My friend's weird son
speaks only in terms
of werewolves

One day I pointed
out to him Ronnie, your werewolves
do nothing
differently because of their lycanthropy; in your stories they

Study the city's bus schedule,
shop for groceries after work on Thursday
in order to keep
the whole weekend clear; your werewolves

Are really worried about the economy and their
digestive health; doesn't that
kind of

Defeat the whole purpose, shouldn't
they be

Ripping out hearts, running
through the marsh?

Aren't werewolves just a metaphor
for man's frustrated virility,
for the scarcely repressed

Dark side
of human nature?

Each of us wants
the thing we are not,
said the boy,

Blinking the moonlight out of his eyes.