Sue Sleep

            after Suzanne Vega’s “Big Space”

Come with me to the betweens
            of muscle and arrow
      where there must be a nerve
                        broken in the killing. An eye

            entering upon sleep can believe
the rabbit let the spell slip. The eye can do
                        the repairing. The flesh is the split
                  of a cloud. Snowfall ensues.

A parcel of land is shattered
            into parcels. Enough for each
      blade of grass to bend at the elbow.
                        Enough for but the hospice

            of burr and seed in the matted
fur. Take the knife. Into the rabbit hide.
                        The spell is in the blood. Stain
                  the snowclot. Come

with me and witness the nerve
            twitch into silence. The parcels
      must be left to erase the blood. The eye
                        will blame the rabbit. Oh, love,

            stir the stew where the rabbit
gives its bones to us as penance. Between your
                        hands and my body. Close
                  your eyes and eat.

Heath Joseph Wooten (he/him) is an MFA candidate at Northern Michigan University. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Von Aegir Literary, and he has played every Fire Emblem game at least five times. You can find his work in or forthcoming from perhappened mag, Lammergeier, Sienna Solstice, and others.