by Ben Perez
mine roots, mine roots, soul thee and true —
ours keep, ours keep, to eyes to do —
here’s grown, grown over, over, dew —
new my, new me, at buddings fast —
i by i, uninstead, and cast —
up all, all in, all at once at last —
choose, and life, my all-of-breath thee use —
use thee breath-of-all, my life, and choose —
at, at the stars, at betwixt and throw —
above, adown, long apace we’ll grow —
to soon to touch to souls all such —
art thou but oblivion, and much —
● ● ●
mine, with pulses, beats double thine —
thine double, beats pulses, with mine —
Benjamin L. Perez teaches at Allan Hancock College, a community college in Santa Maria, California. Before that, he taught at San Quentin State Prison, through Prison University Project. His poems have been published in various places, e.g., Merion West, The Aurorean, The Asses of Parnassus, and The Society of Classical Poets. He’s recently discovered C.S. Lewis’s nonfiction writing, and can’t stop reading (and rereading) it. He does not Tweet.
header image: “Lisbon, Portugal” by szeke CC BY-SA 2.0. (Cropped)
