Woman in fur coat © Judith Mason
Woman in fur coat
Wilma Stockentröm
The almost hairless hides herself with grace
in fox fur and monkey skin and curly fleece
thanks to the hunter, die butcher, the furrier.
And to her it doesn’t feel the least bit strange
to do her thing in another’s skin.
Between her and her suitor’s hide
she temporarily mounts the barrier of beast
and strips herself, and exposes the
tiny strip of mammalian hair of hers.
The next morning in shiny marten coat
she arranges round her sweet foxy face a frame
of collar, flashes tiny teeth, and vanishes.
[Translated by Johann de Lange]