Julie Benesh ~ Say

In your next life you could be an orchid
or dan­de­lion. Who’s to say who’s better?
Fragile beau­ty or gold grit? Seriously:
it takes all kinds. Literally: everything

is designed to be what it is, to do
as it does. You can stamp your tattoo
brand on the strate­gic plan like tramp
or angel, what­ev­er your angle: hip or ankle.

Not to say it does­n’t mat­ter, but let’s say
it doesn’t: mat­ter, like energy’s nei­ther born
nor abort­ed. There’s a non-coer­cion clause,
only death and tax­es inevitable. I’m not here

to advo­cate the path of least resis­tance; I’m only
the observ­er whose very obser­va­tion changes
the observed, as if such absur­di­ty were even possible:
white cloud over this­tle, ghost ris­ing from swamp.

~

Julie Benesh is author of the chap­book About Time and the forth­com­ing full-length poet­ry col­lec­tion Initial Conditions and has pub­lished work in Tin House, Crab Orchard Review, Florida Review, Another Chicago Magazine, JMWW, Maudlin House, and else­where. She is a grad­u­ate of Warren Wilson College’s MFA Program and recip­i­ent of an Illinois Arts Council Grant. Read more at juliebenesh.com.