The Man in the Woods

Once I met someone

in the woods. 

He acted like I met him on purpose.

I didn’t. 

He smiled antler 

to antler,

a smile not reaching

his two firefly eyes. 

He asked me if I

knew what he knew.

I had no answer. 

He told me, I know

a place where the muscadine

vine bleeds the sweetest wine.

He told me

half a story. 

He said, Stay

in these woods. 

He did not tell me

what hides behind the vines.

I told him No,

and he howled.

I ran. If I looked back,

would I turn into salt?

I heard his hooves

slice the ground. 

I made it to the porch light

before I turned to face

what hunted me.

All I saw—fireflies.

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Emma Galloway Stephens is a neurodivergent poet and professor from the Appalachian foothills of South Carolina. Her poems have appeared in The Windhover, Red Branch Review, Ekstasis Magazine, Door is a Jar Literary Magazine, and many other publications. You can read more at egstephenspoetry.com.