Marlin M. Jenkins
Tradition
(in the video game:)
the cursed young man
goes into exile,
attempts to unlearn everything
his grandfather taught him
about how to fight.
teaches himself
a new tradition.
but upon his return
he transforms again
into a devil, just as
his father who, after thrown
from a cliff, first transformed
to gain the strength to climb.
a truth manifest
down to the level of genes:
a long line of sharp claws,
wings which fester
within us, become
the best way we’ve learned
to carry ourselves,
the only way we’ve known
to stay alive.
Marlin M. Jenkins reads “Tradition”
Marlin M. Jenkins was born and raised in Detroit and currently lives in Minnesota. He’s author of the poetry chapbook Capable Monsters (Bull City Press, 2020) and a graduate of University of Michigan’s MFA program.