Here, Bullet

[gardenwaltz.livejournal.com]

Here, Bullet
by Brian Turner

If a body is what you want,
then here is bone and gristle and flesh.
Here is the clavicle-snapped wish,
the aorta’s opened valves, the leap
thought makes at the synaptic gap.
Here is the adrenaline rush you crave,
that inexorable flight, that insane puncture
into heat and blood. And I dare you to finish
what you’ve started. Because here, Bullet,
here is where I complete the word you bring
hissing through the air, here is where I moan
the barrel’s cold esophagus, triggering
my tongue’s explosives for the rifling I have
inside of me, each twist of the round
spun deeper, because here, Bullet,
here is where the world ends, every time.

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I was lucky enough to be able to attend a reading by Brian Turner. He served for seven years in the Army, including one year in Iraq where most of this book was written. He also has an MFA from the University of Oregon. His book of the same title has won numerous awards.