Jan-Henry Gray

Meat

                                                  doubly inspired by W. Todd Kaneko and Ada Limón

To avoid torching the skewers, soak overnight
in water. To guarantee the lean meat tender,

steep in a marinade of vinegar. Too much
acid will gray the outer flesh. Temper it

with something sweet: say honey, something
grounding: say soy. Add smoke, tomato, or

black pepper. Pepper is a bridge between two
flavors. To marry cherry juice to cinnamon, boil

both with whole cloves. Clove of pepper. Clove
of garlic. Elephant garlic heart. The language

of the heart is stupid. Inarticulate. It needs
tending. Tendon. Time. A night in, sealed.

Before slicing, let rest. So much happens
to flesh—its brief time exposed to so much fire.

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Jan-Henry Gray’s first book, Documents, was chosen by D.A. Powell as the winner of BOA Editions’ 2018 Poulin Poetry Prize. Jan is a Kundiman fellow and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Adelphi University. Born in the Philippines, he grew up in San Francisco and currently lives in Brooklyn.