Wild Thing by Alma Peek

Wild Thing

I am in an interview, in a conference room, stuck in French
When the only sentence I know by heart is Est-ce que c’est
Possible de caresser votre chien? That is a wild thing
That happened and I am recalling this absurdity to you
When you say, I notice the sun is in your eye so let’s move.

You’ve said the similar generous thing before about hamsters
And their wheels and how it’s hard to get them to stop moving.

Outside it’s a setting sun and the air is insect-noisy and
When you tell me about your father growing wild blueberries,
I know I love him and it is really something to love a man’s father.
Did you know? We’ll all be eating live insects again
Just like early modern humans in ten years’ time.
We walk, and I hear, as if from childhood, the silence beyond
Millions of fluffing Fall field crickets. It is nightfall in October
And I love to be brought back by you
To the sound of the beginning of things.

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Alma Peek is from San Antonio, Texas. She is overeducated, to the point of foolishness. One of the highlights of her career came in 2015 when she taught a research methods class at CELSA Sorbonne in Paris, France (2014-2015). She is currently submitting two novels (Camp and Through the Green) and a poetry collection (Wild Thing). In 2025, her poetry appeared in Frontier Poetry, Stirring: A Literary Collection, and she has two poems forthcoming (November 2025) in Eunoia Review. She is the founder of @SYLVdesigns, LLC, a jewelry design brand. Her IG: @_almapeek_