the neighborhood gossip—beware her open mouth * an ungainly bird, each long leg ending in a faulty claw * the X on childhood’s map where pirates dug * a masochist, each arm ready to slice the other * the grace of a doe slipping into the autumn underbrush * an argument that cuts everything in the path of its rage * hope and cynicism, each set in motion separately and together * a heavy snow, trimming the weak limbs, trimming whatever must go
Jeff Mock is the author of Ruthless (Three Candles Press, 2010). His poems appear in American Poetry Review, The Atlantic Monthly, The Georgia Review, New England Review, The North American Review, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. He directs the MFA program at Southern Connecticut State University and lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with his wife, Margot Schilpp, and their daughters, Paula and Leah.
