Dante's Heart
Dante's Heart 2008 Poetry Contest
Second Place
Jenn Nunes
Protected
We founded this town.
Sowed raspberries from cane
brought in night
let the bushes grow wild
thick and claws. Berry bloodied
lips we did not think danger
eating the seeds of red fruit
tiny round stitches in our gut.
Shoots spread canes, soft
alluvial soil, paths worn
tight loops inside our great
barbed walls. A haven, a castle.
A lost golden ball. After
we found the girl’s body
enmeshed in briar, eyelids
pinned shut with thorns,
we shot the first wolf
for balance. Still, wanderers
washed back down the river
each body a swollen plum.
The stranger was an accident.
We held his intestines in
our cool hands. Laid his body
outside the gate where black
pupils pulsed yellow eyes,
black snouts nosed hot death
and we picked off the predators
out attic windows, riffles
oiled in slick palms. Wet fur
stank of dog and the killing.
Lean, limp bodies heaped
a ring, an impassable barrier
safe as long as flesh
blooms fat white worms.
Second Place
Jenn Nunes
Protected
We founded this town.
Sowed raspberries from cane
brought in night
let the bushes grow wild
thick and claws. Berry bloodied
lips we did not think danger
eating the seeds of red fruit
tiny round stitches in our gut.
Shoots spread canes, soft
alluvial soil, paths worn
tight loops inside our great
barbed walls. A haven, a castle.
A lost golden ball. After
we found the girl’s body
enmeshed in briar, eyelids
pinned shut with thorns,
we shot the first wolf
for balance. Still, wanderers
washed back down the river
each body a swollen plum.
The stranger was an accident.
We held his intestines in
our cool hands. Laid his body
outside the gate where black
pupils pulsed yellow eyes,
black snouts nosed hot death
and we picked off the predators
out attic windows, riffles
oiled in slick palms. Wet fur
stank of dog and the killing.
Lean, limp bodies heaped
a ring, an impassable barrier
safe as long as flesh
blooms fat white worms.
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