Jeanne Lutz
What Is In The Slough?
garter snakes in a breeding ball are in it
a dance hall for cattails
crusty muskrat guts
and what looks like the armpit of a bear
but turns out to be uncle gordy's toupee from the family reunion of '04
a silver guilded reliquary in the shape of a hand is in it
a turtle with spots on its shell that stand for the starry sky
and hoof prints following a stampede
my favorite boots from my favorite rain are in it
the memory of your ruffled hair in bed
all the petty defeats I've ever taken in the chin
and a hoi polloi of frogs calling to everyone passing
which is no one
come in come in
Bio
Jeanne Lutz grew up on a dairy farm in southern Minnesota, attended the University of Ireland in Galway, and spent two years in Japan. A 2017 Pushcart Prize nominee, 2017 Best-of-the-Net nominee, and Loft Mentor Series winner for poetry, her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jerome Foundation, and the Oberholtzer Foundation. Her poetry has appeared in The Missouri Review; Conduit; NonBinary Review; Tinderbox Poetry Journal; Poetry City, USA; and elsewhere. She divides her time between the family farm and working at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.