A Poem by Jason Irwin

BIG TOE

There were babies:

an armada of chocolate babies like the Luftwaffe
coming into view from the right side of the screen
in my head. The sky, the color of blood.
I could still feel the warm pulsing
where my left foot used to be.
I woke in sudden jolts
as if someone were shouting my name.
The room was blurry.
I tried to focus, tried to wiggle my big toe,
but the sky ran bloody again
and the babies were melting.



Jason Irwin grew up in Dunkirk, NY and now lives in Pittsburgh, PA. "Watering the Dead," his first full-length collection, won the 2006/2007 Transcontinental Poetry Award and was published in 2008 by Pavement Saw Press. "Some Days It's A Love Story" won the 2005 Slipstream Press Chapbook Prize. His poem “Main Street” was nominated for a Pushcart in 2005. Most recently his work has appeared in Potomac, Grey Sparrow, & Future Cycle Press’ anthology American Society: What Poets See.