1 Poem
Janna Knittel
The Fox
This morning I am burying a fox
found next to the trail
through Talahi Woods.
Whatever snared him,
no blood, not a mark
tells the story.
Once electrified, each hair
from nose to tail now rests.
I blanket his body with fallen leaves.
He is quickly gone,
his russet coat designed
for autumn camouflage.
If only I could shatter
into leaves and dust
while he sprang forth,
coat and tail aflame,
to disappear inside fall foliage.
"The Fox" was a finalist for the 2018 Up North Poetry Prize.
Janna Knittel
Janna Knittel lives in Minnesota but still sometimes calls the Pacific Northwest “home.” She earned her MFA from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Her chapbook Fish & Wild Life was published by Finishing Line Press in May 2018. She has published poems most recently in North Dakota Quarterly, Split Rock Review, Cold Mountain Review, Whale Road Review, and Waters Deep: A Great Lakes Anthology. She is a recipient of a 2019 Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board for work on her full-length manuscript titled Real Work.