JEN BENKA

Against Endangered

he lived apart away from resisting definition the number and tag
observation in his natural habitat documented in numbers on charts
figure A fed marshmallows by giggling children parents poised with
cameras balloons tied to strollers their souvenir their discovery their
capture their rescue their study their prize their favorite bedtime story
their savior salvation their forgiveness and healer the miracle hand to
lay on lay with. he wanted to be the last of his kind.


Jen Benka's collection of one poem for each of the 52 words in the Preamble to the US Constitution, A Box of Longing With Fifty Drawers, will be published by Soft Skull Press in 2005. Jen is the managing director of Poets & Writers and lives in New York City.

Photo credit: Maggie Balistreri 2004