Jordan Tyler Temchack: "regenerate"

regenerate
 
I want to grow antlers 
to lose in combat  learn patience 
and humility  attempt androgyny
like those boxes of memories
in the attic covered in decades 
of dust and bat guano  I need to clean
my ears  study the q-tip 
decide if there’s anything worth saving 
or if there’s only trashy thoughts 
repressed into wax-like sap
lacking maple’s sweetness  I want
to identify trees by the accents
of their whispers  know intimacy
like salamanders swim 
with new limbs or rainbow trout
taste shadows  crayfish don’t care
what you call them so long as 
they’re allowed to live purely 

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Jordan Tyler Temchack is a poet, folksinger, and illustrator. He lives with his wife and dogs in Central Pennsylvania, where they garden and wander around the Allegheny Mountains. His work can be found at Prime Number Magazine, Red Flag Poetry, Passengers Journal, and his website: https://jordantylertemchack.wordpress.com