Alpha

the atmosphere makes earth look blue. life started with one cell that somehow split in two. who wrote what to whom. the universe contains the universe. a faint milky circle, a blank field. one lie leads to the next. the comfort of something complex that connects us. do you feel this. yes. I could tell you everything but then what would be left. there is a thing that needs to be built (the name for it). how do I say this (imperfectly). the difference between the microscope, telescope, and pen suspended by a single thread—pull and then it ends

Copyright © 2011 by Jen Benka. From Pinko (Hanging Loose Press, 2011). Used with permission of the author.