Svanen, (Hilma af Klimt, 1915).
The Potential For Every Thing In Any Thing
It does not sound like my house is on fire
but fire burns
elsewhere
undisturbed by my considerations.
Maybe. Maybe
all of it is a reaction murked
by doors opening and then
closing and then opening
again like a ceremony
that will never believe its own fête. Maybe.
Maybe that flowing turbidity
walks on pin-prick legs
through ocean rushes so strong
they pulsate
the internet: fashion blogs: potentially even
the trades: sex: money: violence
: astonishing regret.
Maybe my daughter's chapped-est lips
still kiss me goodnight—
soft as sifted flour—
in a kitchen made spritely
with all of its windows open—
city light as benediction pouring over.
Maybe we will hang it again; ever-unfolding ruin.
Josh Bettinger
Josh Bettinger is the author of the chapbooks A Dynamic Range Of Various Designs For Quiet (2019), and In The Pool At The Motel On The Interstate (2023) both from GASHER. Select publications include Handsome Poetry, SLICE, flock, Columbia Journal, Atlas Review, Crazyhorse, and Boston Review, among others. He lives in Northern California with his family.
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