Growing Up
One part’s abstract-- listening
to an underground river clearing
its throat in the desert & thinking
about the Yucca tapping their roots
down to those drops-- &
the other part’s a scene
from a movie: waking up
to a pale moon in half-
morning light feeling the tip
of a knife at your throat, and
just before hearing him say,
there’s a scorpion on your neck;
I’m going to flick it into
the fire thinking I guess
this is it, he’s finally going
to do it. On one side
of this is hearing the sharp
sizzle of a scorpion
in flames; on the other
is the rest
of your life.
—Rick Benjamin