venison

mostly I want to ask whose
as in whose headlights and how

do I button myself back up
as in why do they call it

passing the buck as in your
freckles leave me wholly all

in orange and oiled so I want
to be what feeds you, want

to be what to teach your son,
want to be what bolts, what is

wrapped in tarps and cured mostly
I want to ask if you’ve smelled asphalt

and how it compares to grass and how
it compares to salted skin

and square teeth and wide
brown eyes and how soft I was

Elaine Cannell is a poet and PhD student studying feminist literature and performance art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work has previously appeared in Cleaver Magazine and After Hours, & is forthcoming in Pretty Owl Poetry.