"When the Foxes Say Grace" by Emma Paris

When the Foxes Say Grace

The foxes sit down at the table and scrape up knives.
The foxes sit down on chairs, collapsing napkins above clean laps.
The foxes sit down at the table and shine their plates.
The foxes sit down and watch the hot grease run over thick glass.
The foxes sit down to say grace.

The foxes stand up and wipe off the stationed crumbs.
The foxes stand up and pull remaining flesh out of a crevice.
The foxes stand up and laugh with their fur bellies.
The foxes stand up and toss out careless carcasses for vultures.
The foxes stand up to say grace.

The foxes lie down and curl red tails around flabby skin.
The foxes lie down and dream of running red deer.
The foxes lie down and dream of red winters and white mice.
The foxes lie down and lick their hot, red lips.
The foxes lie down to say grace.

The foxes wake up and play out imaginary springtime.
The foxes wake up and stretch out their surfaces, bones, arteries.
The foxes wake up and grab their loaded guns.
The foxes wake up just to go back to sleep.
The foxes wake up to say grace.

The foxes crouch down and stare from shrubs at the last doe.
The foxes crouch down to hide broke–bursting berries.
The foxes crouch down and shake their shrapnel teeth with desire.
The foxes crouch down to bury their dead, they eat some.
The foxes crouch down to say grace.

The foxes look up and consider the skyward mural of angels.
The foxes look up for an unspecified god and keep their eyes unlatched.
The foxes look up and let the bucking tears fall hard and ajar.
The foxes look up while concealing the sinful deer body below.
The foxes look up to say grace.

Emma Paris

Emma Paris (she/her) is a first-year student at Bennington College, where she’s studying poetry and ecology. Her poetry has appeared in VTDigger, (m)othertongue, Zaum Magazine, Voices and Visions Journal, Snaggletooth Magazine, The Northern New England Review, Harpur Palate, and more. She interned at Green Writers Press during the winter of 2025, helping edit and proof upcoming poetry titles. Emma was the runner-up for Vermont Youth Poet Laureate in 2024. Keep up with her on Instagram @wellerbootpoetry.

Headshot: Emma Paris

Photo Credit :Staff