with my bare hand in the chilled bird
I grab hold the livid neck
and bring it into the late afternoon light
raking through the window
above the kitchen sink.
old blood darkens the paper towel
folded on the counter. the giblets
lie where they fell, and a fly
has already found the heart.
at each joint I cleave the bird.
the bones show their marrow.
Matt Foster is a writer and MFA candidate living in El Paso, Texas. He is currently enrolled in the University of Texas at El Paso’s Online MFA in Creative Writing program, where he studies poetry and literary craft. His writing focuses on memory, identity, family, and the overlooked pressures of ordinary life. His work has appeared in El Paso Community College’s Chrysalis and the University of Texas at El Paso’s Emerging Voices, Vol. 1. Additional work is forthcoming in Mande Literary Episode 5 and Prudence Dispatch Vol. 3.