STICK A HUNK OF METAL WITHIN THIS FORM

Marty Cain

I plugthe deer-sensorinto the campinggenerator& turn the dialwe walk to the waterwe stick in our tonguesto swallow the droppingsof cyborg deerwe came to murderthe hoofprint moonslike a fucked-up heartproperty rendedof blinking traffica continual summeror surrenderwhen I shut my eyesthe ferns around mewe drive several miles in the truckwith a spider makinga web in the bedit sways in the windthe world makes formsand the king makes fencesto keep us from killingourselves on the gorgesin the name of patrilineal virtueand implied liabilitycall this numberif you want to diethe deer-sensor singsthe wind hits leavesand we follow prints to a thicketwhere the animatronic deerbuilt a living spacethe nomadic creatures move each hourtheir television blaringtheir paisley couch where they sitand drink coffee and watch Bambi and crya nuclear family producedthrough the law of the fatherwe come for them quietwe see them sleepingthe king made us killersor we made the kingand I walk behind the buckand slit his throatand we poison the fawnand crush the doeand the eyes leave the socketsthere is no bloodthere are only springsand wire and gearsrollicking gently across makeshift beddingwe stare in the iriswe see the reflectionthe wires holdwe see the king leave the bathand water drips downhis lean white bodyhe sits on the edge of the tubhis balls hang limphe shuts his eyesand his tears start runninghow do we killin the garden we’re building

Feature Date

Series

Selected By

Share This Poem

Print This Poem

Headshot of Marty Cain

Marty Cain is the author of three books of poetry and hybrid writing, most recently The Prelude (Action Books, 2023). Individual poems have appeared in Best American Experimental Writing, Fence, Denver Quarterly, mercury firs, and elsewhere. He holds an MFA from the University of Mississippi and a PhD from Cornell, and is currently at work on an academic monograph titled Making Places: Rural Infrastructure, Media, and DIY Poetic Community. He lives in Ithaca, NY, where he works for Cornell University Libraries and plays in the punk band Joyous Shrub.

Cover of The Prelude by Marty Cain

"A furious and sorrowful deep-dive together with Wordsworth through nature, into the pixels of the body, dreams, space, and matter. I feel blown away and grateful that such brutally excessive transformations are still possible. The Prelude is a brilliant and beautiful breakthrough. Marty Cain expands the world with the help of pure explosivity!"
—Aase Berg, author of With Deer

"Poems of momentous and exhilarating beauty, I’m so attentive and awestruck."
—Dennis Cooper, author of "I Wished"

Poetry Daily Depends on You

With your support, we make reading the best contemporary poetry a treasured daily experience. Consider a contribution today.