Paddock Review has published the poem Cat Scan from my new book Crying of Small Motors (Finishing Line Press.)
CAT Scan
of my skull in the surgeon’s office
like a Da Vinci post-mortem
a putty of shades
smeared by movement
in the brrr-ing machine
Newly pendulum-like
about multiple axes
as if a friend had sent
a funny birthday card
with a tilt-a-whirl
holographic skull
of a chimpanzee
front teeth protruding
lips blown out like someone
in a fool’s rage over
missed chances—
now I am bent over
under the weight of this
bloody hind quarter
in a slurry of guilt
rain and Glenlivet
The elk had run injured
had needed two shots
the truck still a half mile
and a creek crossing away
My feet like dead cod
I am losing my grip this
blood-slick carcass and all
the punk stars with long
sleeves of lime curd
dragging their chains over
and up the long hill
(first published in Trampoline)
