“Earth Eater” by Jaclyn Desforges

Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Earth Eater” by Jaclyn Desforges.







Earth Eater



by Jaclyn Desforges







Jaw creaks open like a rusty old opening







Whales have fingers and how to swallow one



Is to open bigger than you’ve ever opened:







You are a door and



Through the door is your body



Which you thought of as a marmot







Only bigger, only wiser, only



Maybe in possession of something immortal







With five fingers on each hand



And eyes for measuring







Something capable of stretching open wide







We’re waiting for you to swallow us down



To the dark cave of your inside belly







You were made to cradle the universe



You were made to hold all our bodies







Your jaw is bigger than a fleet



Your jaw is an open gate and it doesn’t even hurt







When the anemones come in, the dolphins







When you are bigger than the sea



You get lower than the sea







The art of opening is to make room for what is longed for



Like the slate grey body of an ordinary whale







Eventually you see yourself under everything







Carrying our solar system



On the hydraulic lift of your hipbones











“Earth Eater” was previously published in Contemporary Verse 2 .







Jaclyn Desforges is the 2023/2024 Mabel Pugh Taylor Writer In Residence at McMaster University and Hamilton Public Library. She’s the queer and neurodivergent author of Danger Flower (Palimpsest Press), winner of the 2022 Hamilton Literary Award for Poetry and one of CBC’s picks for the best Canadian poetry of 2021. She’s also the author of a picture book, Why Are You So Quiet ? (Annick Press, 2020).







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