The Music of Werewolves

is a wrenching heavy metal refrain
framed by the crescendo and
decrescendo of screeching chords

as each incarnation transpires
with the rise of a full moon
and is reversed in its falling.

The music of werewolves
is rife with a raucous chorus
of howls and blasphemes,

a scherzo of wilding violins
and pounding kettle drums
in a thunderous blood beat.

It is burning-ripe-moon music,
rich in claw and fang and drool
and the rampage of the hunt,

a savage onslaught in which
all of your rage can be released
and your base hunger sated.

Yet when silence returns,
you can barely remember
a single note.

Appeared in Asimov's SF