Jay Snodgrass

THE FACE IS RECTANGLE AND FORCEFUL

Orange is the skillful heart
Of any sunset or gunshot.

I read on your door how vicious
Your dog is. If the grammar changes
Here, what part becomes danger?

What this region has I believe
Fertilizes the very banal
Torque suppressed within
Violence. I confess into a new
Life, denuded parking lot
And coins: the bramble of
An orange sky cut from backs
Of car windows and stuttering
Tintypes falling from rotten hooks.

Jay Snodgrass is the author of two books of poetry, Monster Zero (Elizir 2002) and The Underflower forthcoming from Cherry Grove Editions. His poems have appeared in Ploughshares, The Iowa Review, Versal and Shenandoah, as well as online at blazevox, canwehaveourballback, Ducky and McSweeney's.