jeffrey mcdaniel

For my poetry workshop this semester, I'm reading Jeffrey McDaniel's's Endarkenment, which contains some of the most sensitive, organic, and witty poetry I've ever read. I love his work -- they are deliciously, unpretentiously down-to-earth and simple, and deserve to be shared with you all. Two of my favorites:

i send you this leaf

not because of its supreme beauty or uniqueness
not because the tree it came from looks like you
yawning in the morning
not because it would be a good substitute for lettuce
on your next sandwich
not because it's a page ripped from the book of my thoughts
not because i placed it on my tongue and tasted your earlobe
not because it's the lit-match color of your nipples
not because it's a remnant of autumn's confetti
not because it's shaped like your eye when you leaned forward
and blew out the candle
-------
Exercising My Demons

Tomorrow I will
exercise my demons.
I will rouse them
from their mink
caves and make them
run springs till
their long tongues
dangle like red flags
of desire. Oh, soon
my demons will be
in such good shape.
No one will call
them fat. My demons
will be the fittest
demons of all.