I\u2019ve been afforded too few opportunities<\/p>\n
to prove I\u2019m merciful. Carrying<\/p>\n
carrot peels & broken arm-<\/p>\n
fuls of eggshell to the compost heap,<\/p>\n
albumen\u2019s dregs iridescent in the glowering<\/p>\n
sun, I call the millipedes that graze<\/p>\n
their estuary of decay for dinner, rise<\/em>,<\/p>\n eat<\/em>. So logical, their little bodies,<\/p>\n concatenated & sable. The human head<\/p>\n keeps seeing twenty seconds after<\/p>\n being guillotined. I wonder if the basket<\/p>\n catching heads at executions ever gets reused,<\/p>\n holds folded towels in the guest bathroom<\/p>\n or stacks of canned sardines in the \u00e9picerie.<\/p>\n Fish don\u2019t feel pain like we do, so<\/p>\n my friend scales & filets the pile of bluegill<\/p>\n in his truckbed while they\u2019re still<\/p>\n mouthing their word for water<\/em>. I watch<\/p>\n the knife divide the body like a loaf<\/p>\n splits into slices, so that everyone can eat.<\/p>\n Every time I smear my toast\u2019s stoic face<\/p>\n with butter, I\u2019m holding a blade<\/p>\n whose ancestors demanded sacrifices:<\/p>\n blood, skin to be woven, guts to be wound<\/p>\n across the gape of a lute. Justice<\/p>\n suggests I should subtract the plastic<\/p>\n bag\u2019s weight when I place my haricots verts<\/p>\n on the grocer\u2019s scale, but I pay anyway,<\/p>\n & take the bag home, where I use it<\/p>\n to pick dog shit off the lawn. Most days<\/p>\n I\u2019m liable to waste hours watching videos<\/p>\n of animals being freed from barbed wire.<\/p>\n Poor possum, spitting like a grease fire, who<\/p>\n could blame you, turning back to bite<\/p>\n the hand that pulled you loose? The fence<\/p>\n did just what we meant it to do.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been afforded too few opportunities to prove I\u2019m merciful. Carrying carrot peels & broken arm- fuls of eggshell to the compost heap, albumen\u2019s dregs iridescent in the glowering sun, I call the millipedes that graze their estuary of decay for dinner, rise, eat. So logical, their little bodies, concatenated & sable. The human head […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1425,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[53],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-3Av","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13795"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13795"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13979,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13795\/revisions\/13979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}JOSH MYERS<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/h6>\n<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"