listen to what makes me wonder what being human is

Samari Zysk

blink and you’ll miss it — pain is a negotiation
but not at first. there’s a moment when we
live in a single inch of skin, when stars are moons,
when the trees are the ribs of the earth, poking at the sky.

listen to what makes me wonder what being
human is. we don’t know what color the sky really
is, only what our eyes tell our brains and how
it makes us feel. and yet, sometimes noticing the color of the sky feels like
the most meaningful thing in the entire world.

pain isn’t dissimilar to wonder, but only if it happens to you, and
not if you inflict that selflessness on yourself.
pay attention, and the simplest things are magnified.
forget about them, and the most meaningful things
come naturally. your own limits are precious.

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Samari Zysk is a queer Jewish poet who is a second-year MFA student at Mills College. You can find their work in Ghost City Review, Survivor Lit, and Horse Egg Literary, among others. They currently live in Olympia, Washington.

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