"Reading Faulkner at 17, You Foresee Your Reckoning"
Click the arrow on the audio player to hear Catherine Pierce read this poem. The harvest moon hangs heavy, a gourd. Your desires heave inside you like a blood wave. Ignore the cat
pulling on your trousers. Ignore
the cicadas bossing you from the elms.
See yourself in this hot gold light.
You are the brother in love with Caddy.
You are the idiot son. Your mouth dumb.
Your mind lucent. Everything you want
sharp as the cat's bite at your ankle. You pull
your foot back. A yowl, pointed as teeth.
The moon is what will fall on you.
Catherine Pierce is the author of Famous Last Words. She teaches creative writing at Mississippi State University.
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