(animal)
*
a heart is entirely
something that stops, a
dog dies every day
the lithic forgiving
you back home
just come back
home
*
the dead lunge
of intonation, and
you get your
knuckles dusted
everyone gets nuzzled
down, dirt cozy,
disarticulations from your
once-living body
you’re an animal,
you give your atoms back
John Liles is a poet, science writer, and naturalist. He is the recipient of the 2024 Yale Younger Poets prize. Liles is a graduate of the MFA program at New York University and former artist-in-residence at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation. His chapbook, Following the dog down, was the recipient of the Omnidawn Chapbook Prize. He resides in Fort Bragg, CA, where he writes and works as the head naturalist at the Pacific Environmental Education Center.