Brian Turner, "Here, Bullet"

Today, some class notes first:

1. From here on out, this class is self-directed. How you use your time is up to you so long as you are engaged in a some activity in pursuit of one of your class goals: The Anthology Project, your Moleskine collection, Independent Reading, Vocabulary.

2. For our week #3 goal, I would also like you to include working claims for two of those five poems. Please submit these to my homework folder "Week #3 goal--lists and claims" and use the filename "lastnameLIST."

3. Finish strong with your reading and blogging. We will conclude our blogging expectations at the end of next week, Friday 11/11.

Brian Turner, "Here, Bullet"

If a body is what you want,
then here is bone and gristle and flesh.
Here is the clavicle-snapped wish,
the aorta’s opened valves, the leap
thought makes at the synaptic gap.
Here is the adrenaline rush you crave,
that inexorable flight, that insane puncture
into heat and blood. And I dare you to finish
what you’ve started. Because here, Bullet,
here is where I complete the word you bring
hissing through the air, here is where I moan
the barrel’s cold esophagus, triggering
my tongue’s explosives for the rifling I have
inside of me, each twist of the round
spun deeper, because here, Bullet,
here is where the world ends, every time.