Esteemed Art-Loving Reader
Alyse Bensel
Each tiny moon
pinned on the underbelly
of a tulip’s praying leaf
signals its slow devouring.
Caterpillars the length
of a fingernail crack
from the egg—the chrysalis
contains a metamorphosis incandescent
in its hardened shell.
Even the inchworm raises
the length of its body
to heaven, as if caught
in ecstasy, praising
what shapes
all creatures. For those
who destroy follow cycles
and observe, and record, and obey.
~~~~~
Alyse Bensel is the author Not of Their Own Making (Dancing Girl Press, 2014) and Shift (Plan B Press, 2012). Her poetry has recently appeared in Mid-American Review, Menacing Hedge, Heavy Feather Review, and burntdistrict, among others. She serves as the Book Review Editor at The Los Angeles Review and Managing Editor of Beecher’s.