Cain
First, a conversation. Now,
A volcano. Call me quick
Tempered vegan. Turnip
Lover. Fruit licker. Mound
Maker. Quiet. I can predict
An earthquake. I can cook
A rose. I’m first to kill
A weed. The collards
Should come quick this year.
The beans may be lean.
Some slaughter sheep for
Dinner. Some chew leaves.
I plant seeds and wait
All winter to eat. Firstborn
And patient, I give ground
Color. Pull pink from
Green. Azalea, vibrant as
A lamb’s tongue. My kid
Brother kills one, but I
Dig the hole, soil still
Young, the lava beneath it
Near each finger. Little
Brothers torture most
Of God’s creatures. Small
Men watch them bleed.
Jericho Brown is a recipient of the Whiting Writers Award and the Bunting Fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. His poems have appeared in The Iowa Review, jubilat, New England Review, Oxford American, and several other journals and anthologies. His first book, Please, won the 2009 American Book Award.
