Taxonomies / jude marr 

I am a broken link in the chain

of generations: my name, which I

invented, ends

with m/e

Nazis inventoried gold

teeth; also women’s plaited

hair and babies’

skin

taxonomy is death: Audubon killed

his birds to keep their wings

still: to capture them

on paper

my primary appetite is for

creation: but times, I tear

chapters from sacred books

to eat

paper tastes of fear: my skin roots

me, dead but not, in lost

DNA

order is god: if god’s

a pebble in my shoe, I will go

barefoot

I must deviate

until my skinned soles, until

my unchained feet

bleed.

Jude Marr teaches, and writes poetry, as protest. They are currently a PhD candidate at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and their first chapbook Breakfast for the Birds (Finishing Line), was published in 2017. Other recent credits include Ghost City, Weatherbeaten and Bird’s Thumb. Jude is also poetry editor for r.kv.r.y.