Ars Poetica
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Stone John wasn't prone to ruckus, just running—letters branded on his cheeks from his first flight. Soft jewels, toes, and an ear lopped clean off and mounted on the stable posts after a second, a third. Fourth try, he gimped his way past the limits, stood there, breathed faux-free air to know it could be done, and floated on back. So was John— kindling angst in his family, keeping the slavers honest as scripture. Fifth time, pateroller caught John amongst the pines and there he wouldn't give the hunter any more flesh or weather his family's salty tongues. He straightened up and turned to rock— jagged skin tearing chunks from the whip, form too heavy for men or mules to haul. In the woods, winds made John hum sweetly and people came. Stone John stands in a museum up south now. He is loved —his glass quarters kept so clean.
Kyle Dargan is a writer-in-residence at American University (Washington, DC), as well as a graduate student in its Arts Management Program. His first collection of poems, Listening, won the 2003 Cave Canem Prize and was published by the University of Georgia Press. A graduate of the University of Virginia, he recently received the MFA from Indiana University, Bloomington. He has also studied in the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshops.
