Thrush Poetry Journal
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Matt Sumpter

Chainsaw Ode

Chew your name
through 
what resists.
Rake
the hickory
knots &
pitch-wet pine
in a spray
of sap 
between your
teeth 
& oil
hissing
in the loam. 
Believe
that nature
is collapse:
Derecho, 
inland hurricane,
the straight-line winds
that toppled
rootless trees then 
swallowed
the sound 
of their falling.
Dip your nose 
inside
as termites
scatter. Exhale
cedar shavings
like confetti.
Dig until 
sparks flare
toward
the canopy,
exhaust fumes
knot around
themselves
like worms, 
& your engine
trembles
on the ground,
idling &
undestroyed,
raising smoke
from dry leaves.




Matt Sumpter's poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The New Yorker, The New Republic, Best New Poets 2014, Boulevard, 32 Poems, and Ninth Letter, and won the Crab Orchard Review Special Issues Feature Award. He received his MFA from Ohio State University, and is currently a PhD student in Creative Writing at Binghamton University.




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