John Jeffire

   The Liver Is the Cock’s Comb

Swinging prick swagger, filter of toxins
In mad reverse flooding the heart’s mind
With shapes and landscapes and visions
Of the nymph’s exposed ribs and Ararat 
Brushed from the dripping globe,
The cock of the walk preening then
Combed over double in a gutter the next,
A red wheelbarrow full of banana pratfalls
Where the joke was always on him.
Crush the cockhat beneath severed heel,
Whether you’re too chicken or not 
Chicken enough, once the fool’s cap
Is donned the self-con is on—days from
The spine’s break, a wife spent of 
Spending time tending atrophic hand,
Barnfire ignites vanity that is the unlived
Liver’s curse, gold and fire spikes drinking
Sinking wreckage on the black swamp
Laughing the liver’s last bitter bile.

John Jeffire was born in Detroit. In 2005, his novel Motown Burning was named Grand Prize Winner in the Mount Arrowsmith Novel Competition and in 2007 it won a Gold Medal for Regional Fiction in the Independent Publishing Awards.  Speaking of Motown Burning, former chair of the Pulitzer Jury Philip F. O'Connor said, “It works. I don't often say that, but it has a drive and integrity that gives it credible life....I find a novel with heart.” In 2009, Andra Milacca included Motown Burning in her list of “Six Savory Novels Set in Detroit'' along with works by Elmore Leonard, Joyce Carol Oates, and Jeffrey Eugenides.  His first book of poetry, Stone + Fist + Brick + Bone, was nominated for a Michigan Notable Book Award in 2009.  Former U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine called the book “a terrific one for our city.”  His short story “Boss” appeared in Coolest American Stories 2022, which won the International Book Awards Prize for Fiction Anthologies.  In 2022, his novel River Rouge won the 2022 American Writing Awards for Legacy Fiction while his poetry collection A Temple for Tomorrows was named one of three finalists.  For more on the author and his work, visit writeondetroit.com.