Nature Is Changing Me

by Jennifer L. Knox

against my will. I believed I was
the train brake, the electric fence
and that the road unfurled before me
like a ribbon and the loving car steered
itself for me. I believed my blinks made
shit blow up, my tears made the dog sad,
my tears made the dog sadder than other
people’s tears.
What I forgot was forgotten
in all dimensions. Erased. What I forgot—
not even a hole or black blasted outline of it
remained. It surprised people—to be so
entirely forgotten (take that). And so it
surprised me to see that nature is
forgetting me, and as it does, it is
changing me into prey that mumbles,
“Bless the heater while it lasts, the apples,
the mushrooms…” a thing that goes around
blessing things, playing it safe in the grass.

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About the Author:

Jennifer’s new book of poems, Days of Shame and Failure, will be published by Bloof Books in October 2015. Her first three books of poems are also available on Bloof: The Mystery of the Hidden Driveway, Drunk by Noon and A Gringo Like Me. Her poems have appeared four times in the Best American Poetry series as well as the anthologies Great American Prose Poems, From Poe to Present and Best American Erotic Poems. Her work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, McSweeney’s, and Bomb. She currently teaches at Iowa State University and is the proprietor of a little company called Saltlickers.