{"id":11063,"date":"2026-03-31T23:01:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T23:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/nomad\/?post_type=project&p=11063"},"modified":"2026-03-31T23:04:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T23:04:33","slug":"proprioception","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/nomad\/project\/proprioception\/","title":{"rendered":"Proprioception by Blake Murdock"},"content":{"rendered":"

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At some point,<\/span><\/h3>\n

earlier in our relationship than one would expect,<\/span><\/h3>\n

you told me that when you die you want to be left in the woods for scavengers to find.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

I love you and hate food waste,\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

so I agreed.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

I did not expect to deal with it so\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

soon.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

I dragged weight I did not expect to ever die,\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

and saw your soul lingering above me like the mist that hovers above the lakes.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

It did not take long for them to find you.<\/span><\/h3>\n

I am familiar\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

with the cries of coyotes,\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

I know they echo the damned,\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

the outside pets no one brought in,\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

the ranch animals deigned to die.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

I was not familiar with the jealousy,\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

the pang in my chest and the tightening<\/span><\/h3>\n

in my throat, when I realized that you are being torn apart before me\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

and they will leave me with nothing left.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

One time I was holding your hand and I asked you\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

if I could keep it.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

You did not reply so I took that as a yes.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

I did not expect it to be quite such a literal affair\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

until I was kneeling there\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

next to canines oh so willing to share as long as we all got our fill, kept it all fair.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

My teeth sunk into your wrist and then<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

I am aware that I do not know where my own arms sit, where my hands are in relation to my body,\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

where the ground digs into my knees.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

But I know where all of your limbs are, I can feel where they tear,\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

I hear your hip pop out of place for the last time as your leg rips from it and I realize\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve earned you.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

I am fighting coyotes over your corpse, I am carving apart every bit of you I can reach, you weren’t theirs<\/span><\/h3>\n

to scavenge and your last wish\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

didn’t\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

specify\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

species.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

I am leaning on your chest until it collapses,\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

I can’t bring you back\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

but I can bring you with me.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

I am taking bites like I am winning, I can’t stop until I have the most<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

I hear the coyotes screaming,\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

I hesitate for a moment to see why.<\/span><\/h3>\n

I am alone with your corpse in a clearing.<\/span><\/h3>\n

I am alone with your corpse in the woods.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

We are alone and yet there is snarling,<\/span><\/h3>\n

it\u2019s filling the air and our lungs,<\/span><\/h3>\n

it\u2019s taking its time to wrap around us.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

I take my time with your body<\/span><\/h3>\n

I have my fill,\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

I think<\/span><\/h3>\n

the sun was setting when I killed you.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

You leave my life as you entered it- faceless and skeletal.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

I walk away with you,\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

hand in hand.<\/span><\/h3>\n

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At some point, earlier in our relationship than one would expect, you told me that when you die you want to be left in the woods for scavengers to find. \u00a0 I love you and hate food waste,\u00a0 so I agreed. \u00a0 I did not expect to deal with it so\u00a0 soon. \u00a0 I dragged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3409,"featured_media":10816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"project_category":[102],"project_tag":[104,103],"class_list":["post-11063","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_category-poetry","project_tag-2025-2026","project_tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/nomad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/11063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/nomad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/nomad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/nomad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3409"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/nomad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11063"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/nomad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/11063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11077,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/nomad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/11063\/revisions\/11077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/nomad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/nomad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/nomad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_category?post=11063"},{"taxonomy":"project_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/nomad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_tag?post=11063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}