Sick Georgic

Brandon Krieg

Fatherhood dead

smokestack collapsed on the river flats

black pollen ash pollen wind

 

I failed at saving

cores and rinds, 60 lb. bin

of vomit soup poured out

on the overgrowth

                            

shame likewise                cannot be

reabsorbed into the cycles

                                              I am ranked

 

at every molting

by snuffers, high on wick smoke

They use my tongue my teeth keep walking 

 

              away away poor fork

              poor fork away

 

flakes of soft wood float down,

tick dry leaves—

 

woodpecker knocking a dead trunk

muffled uncanny

 

as a scene with the sound off

as the dream of thick vines

 

pushing out of tear ducts

dry from disuse  

 

Brandon Krieg Author Photo

Brandon Krieg is the author of three collections of poems, including Magnifier, winner of the 2019 Colorado Prize for poetry, chosen by Kazim Ali. He teaches at Kutztown University and lives in Kutztown, PA, with his spouse, Colleen O'Brien, and their son.