Fall 2012, Volume 13

Poetry by Jayne Benjulian

Farming

Tomatoes and corn he gives us
all we can eat, all summer
in exchange for farming five acres
where he plants pumpkins
from which he makes no money.
Evenings our farmer drives
the edges of our moon–field
runs the deer off with headlights.
We pick tomatoes, rip
the skin with our teeth,
sweet sting, the pop of corn
against our tongues. My life
should stop here.

 

 

 

 

BIO: Jayne Benjulian has poems published in Zone 3, Sequoia, and The Seattle
Review. Her prose appears in The Atlanta Journal and Constitution,
Money, Ms., as well as in theater playbills and HowlRound, the online
theater ‘zine. Among her adventures, she was chief speechwriter for Apple
and Director of New Play Development at Magic Theatre. She earned her
MFA from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers..