"the dingle" by w v sutra

no love fiercer than coyotes

no joy louder

i heard their warbling in the night

as i lay in bed inviting the internet 

i found the buck the next morning 

as I was checking my fences

already half a skeleton

somebody really wanted his meat

this big eight pointer who took the shot

and bled his way to my land

leaving himself to me who wished him no harm

and to the coyotes who are always hungry

a hunter who kills deer to feed coyotes

is surplus to requirements

and his soul is just an idea

blackberry canes and poison ivy

were even then full overgrowing 

for all the deer left in the wood

so i placed his skull in the arm of a tree

and prayed to saint placebo and saint corolla

and felt much safer for it

never a sunrise in this dark dingle

where the wind seldom reaches 

the old earthen tank 

that never did hold water

w v sutra is the author of skeuomorphia, recently released by White Donkey Publishing. His poetics seek at all times to destabilize and undermine received praxis in the hope of achieving a novel manifestation.