12-10-2025, 11:28 PM
2nd Draft
My wife and I raise meat rabbits.
Someone on a TV show
said, “Bunnies. They just want to die.”
It’s true.
We haven’t gotten to the meat
part yet.
13 live births, 2 still
1 eaten by its mother
(they do it when they’re poorly)
then 1 could not nurse
2 dead in the night
3 when they were weaned.
Each body gets a shroud
of paper towel
and I think how death
can tell a story.
Like how at 27 I worked
a summer in hospice
and heard a man cry
I’m dying as if warning
the living to get out
of his way.
Or how my friend died
at 13 in a house fire
shielding her little sister’s
bones.
Or how last Tuesday
the MRI sang for me
again one half
of a waulking song a
call-and-response
clouds painted on
the ceiling for the
claustrophobics
the weeping
range of the sky.
Now the rabbits are both
living and dying with eyes
like coal I hold them
until they’re wrapped
in paper and nothing
can come undone.
1st Draft
————————-
My wife and I raise meat rabbits.
Someone on a TV show
said, “Bunnies. They just want to die”
and it’s true.
We haven’t gotten to the meat
part yet.
13 live births, 2 still
1 eaten by its mother
(they do that when they’re poorly)
then 1 could not nurse
2 dead in the night
3 when they were weaned.
Each body gets a shroud
of paper towel
and I think how death
can tell a story.
Like how at 27 I worked
a summer in hospice
and listened to a man
cry I’m dying but he
said it as if warning
the living to get out
of his way.
Or how my friend died
at 13 in a house fire
shielding her little sister’s
bones.
Or how last Tuesday
the MRI sang for me
again like one half
of a waulking song a
call-and-response
the sky above painted
on the ceiling for the
claustrophobics the
weeping range of
the sky.
And now the rabbits
are both living and
dying with eyes like coal and
my coworkers say meat rabbits
are giving post-apocalyptic vibes
but they don’t know
how death can be so simple
wrapped in paper.
____________________________
Critics, have at it! My specific questions: is this like, too much, man? And if so, what can I cut? (Also looking for whatever else you have to say!)
My wife and I raise meat rabbits.
Someone on a TV show
said, “Bunnies. They just want to die.”
It’s true.
We haven’t gotten to the meat
part yet.
13 live births, 2 still
1 eaten by its mother
(they do it when they’re poorly)
then 1 could not nurse
2 dead in the night
3 when they were weaned.
Each body gets a shroud
of paper towel
and I think how death
can tell a story.
Like how at 27 I worked
a summer in hospice
and heard a man cry
I’m dying as if warning
the living to get out
of his way.
Or how my friend died
at 13 in a house fire
shielding her little sister’s
bones.
Or how last Tuesday
the MRI sang for me
again one half
of a waulking song a
call-and-response
clouds painted on
the ceiling for the
claustrophobics
the weeping
range of the sky.
Now the rabbits are both
living and dying with eyes
like coal I hold them
until they’re wrapped
in paper and nothing
can come undone.
1st Draft
————————-
My wife and I raise meat rabbits.
Someone on a TV show
said, “Bunnies. They just want to die”
and it’s true.
We haven’t gotten to the meat
part yet.
13 live births, 2 still
1 eaten by its mother
(they do that when they’re poorly)
then 1 could not nurse
2 dead in the night
3 when they were weaned.
Each body gets a shroud
of paper towel
and I think how death
can tell a story.
Like how at 27 I worked
a summer in hospice
and listened to a man
cry I’m dying but he
said it as if warning
the living to get out
of his way.
Or how my friend died
at 13 in a house fire
shielding her little sister’s
bones.
Or how last Tuesday
the MRI sang for me
again like one half
of a waulking song a
call-and-response
the sky above painted
on the ceiling for the
claustrophobics the
weeping range of
the sky.
And now the rabbits
are both living and
dying with eyes like coal and
my coworkers say meat rabbits
are giving post-apocalyptic vibes
but they don’t know
how death can be so simple
wrapped in paper.
____________________________
Critics, have at it! My specific questions: is this like, too much, man? And if so, what can I cut? (Also looking for whatever else you have to say!)