Minnesotan Association of Rogue Taxidermists

Ryan Dzelzkalns

BG-Broadside-Thirty

 

Minnesotan Association of Rogue Taxidermists

 

We’ve all had to confront our chimeras

and give them life.

 

If not life, a voice.

 

If not voice, a body more true

to their 1-3 immortal soul(s).

 

Only we can take the garter snake and

recognize the hydra in its separate skins.

 

You think it’s roadkill

but we can hear it—

deliver us from evil.

 

How bodies come together!

 

The cat runs away three times

and returns still with seashells

another tail to keep it company

 

as wild as our imagination, as free.

Tiny-House

Ryan Dzelzkalns has work appearing or forthcoming with Assaracus, DIAGRAM, The Offing, Rattle, Waxwing and others. He completed a BA at Macalester College where he received the Wendy Parrish Poetry Award and an MFA at NYU. He works for the Academy of American Poets and is the tallest man in New York.