December 8th: Jen Tynes

RABBIT FEVER

Adults in early winter love

                                 climbing toward open skin, walking in

 the center of trails where weeds do not

                                 brush against them. Burning it

with a match. The next best things

                                 to wide masking tape are the eyes

and hands of small children. Myself, I feel

                                 black as the head of a pin. You may want

to put this in a jar of rubbing alcohol

                                 permanently marked with the date

and location. You may want to mouth

                                 like a tiny barb, use petroleum

jelly or nail polish. I have displayed

                                 the ruffle of your waist band

marks like a bird that eats all

                                 the gardenias. I have rivered off

the yard dust with a half-frozen

                                 coil before we close in

on the evening.

Jen Tynes lives in Denver and edits horse less press. She is Reviews and Interviews Editor for Denver Quarterly. Most recently she is the author of Heron/Girlfriend (Coconut Books). A chapbook collaboration with Mike Sikkema, Autogeography, is forthcoming from Black Warrior Review.