CJ EVANS

Against the Master

The parcel of mint to cradle

the body. My miscreant love.

The inevitable deaths

of birds, and the wraiths

wrapped in my circuitry.

My lack of halo or even

help. The hateful potential

of an end in flight and

all the poisonous possibilities

of water and atmosphere

and light. And those who

remain: the thunders in them,

the brightened sapphires

of the young ones’ eyes.

The mint that separates

and then the moving, the ice.

Instructions for Loyal 

Leave off indigo, cut sun, & spades.

No mind to vulgarity & wile. Yellow,

float to grass. Leap out the boom

ravine & head to the lee. Give off your

old pieties, dangerous as owl pellets

& take on the easily of the labrador.

Yellow, take on gust & gamine,

covet mahogany & an anatomy’s

technique. Fall to wind. Leave off your

lights that burn into the countryside.