Courtney LeBlanc
Butcher
I told him before our clothes fell
to the floor. He insisted he didn’t
care. Later, after we showered,
he tells me he hates blood,
how disgusting it is, how I’ve ruined
his sheets. I tell him of the butchering
my father conducted each year,
the slicing of the cow’s throat, its scream
drowning in the warm blood
that gushed over my father’s hand
as he held the head back.
I tell him of the peeled hide,
the meat sliced from bone. I detail
the organs I later cut into chunks
for the dog – the liver, the kidneys –
both thick with blood. I don’t stop
describing till all blood drains from
his face, hand over mouth
he runs to the bathroom. When I leave
I don’t look back.
to the floor. He insisted he didn’t
care. Later, after we showered,
he tells me he hates blood,
how disgusting it is, how I’ve ruined
his sheets. I tell him of the butchering
my father conducted each year,
the slicing of the cow’s throat, its scream
drowning in the warm blood
that gushed over my father’s hand
as he held the head back.
I tell him of the peeled hide,
the meat sliced from bone. I detail
the organs I later cut into chunks
for the dog – the liver, the kidneys –
both thick with blood. I don’t stop
describing till all blood drains from
his face, hand over mouth
he runs to the bathroom. When I leave
I don’t look back.
Biography
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Courtney LeBlanc is the author of the chapbooks All in the Family (Bottlecap Press) and The Violence Within (Flutter Press), and a Pushcart Prize nominee. She has an MBA from the University of Baltimore and an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte; you can find her publications on her blog: www.wordperv.com. She loves nail polish, wine, and tattoos. Follow her on twitter:@wordperv, and IG: @wordperv79.
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