Robert L. Dean, Jr.

Robert L. Dean, Jr. is the author of Pulp (Finishing Line Press, 2022); The Aerialist Will not be Performing: ekphrastic poems and short fictions to the art of Steven Schroeder (Turning Plow Press, 2020); and At the Lake with Heisenberg (Spartan Press, 2018). A multiple Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, his work has appeared in many literary journals. Dean has been a professional musician and worked at The Dallas Morning News. He is a member of The Writers Place and Kansas Authors Club. He lives in Augusta, Kansas.

Bone

beneath the skin
that’s where we live
kicking and screaming
snap
and we are surprised
our sharp ends erupt
shred raw meat
we eat it up
we are wolves
ravenous
we shake the broken body
spatter blood across
the fragile things
those lilies we planted
early on
white like purity
like bone
like fools in love
and now we harvest
crack open the crop
tongue the marrow
o so sweetly