The forest will push back.
Here are three fingers
cut from X's hand, here
are the once-missing
valence electrons. Q:
Is a regret old skin. A:
Old skin is filled with
the rigors of giving.
Here is the fresh couplet,
the shared organs.
Here is the prairie fire
that brings us new leaves.
Justin Carter is the co-editor of Banango Street. The winner of the 2014 Sonora Review Prize, his poems & stories appear or will appear in Booth, The Collagist, Hobart, KneeJerk, & Ninth Letter. He has degrees from Houston & BGSU. He internets at http://justinrcarter.tumblr.com.