by Clayre Benzadón

In full sun, or cold
tolerance, asters grown in, all

charmed and untoothed, wild—
their star-slit petals cross

each other, aster-

isks, ticks, tisks
of remembrance.

There is a game
blossoms play

with each other:

besides the speckled
throats, plants choose

to dress, protect them-
selves in fox-

glove sleeves, thimbles,
during a game of tag, or touch

-me-not—
a half-life lasts a day.

I stare at the aster,
at its last finger of

pulverized breath.
It sheathes, sneezes

like a collapsed core
of a black hole.

______________________________________________________________________

Clayre Benzadón is an MFA graduate student at the University of Miami, managing editor of Sinking City, and Broadsided Press’s Instagram editor. Her chapbook, Liminal Zenith, was published by SurVision Books. She was also awarded the 2019 Alfred Boas Poetry Prize for "Linguistic Rewilding" and published in places including SWWIM Every Day, 14poems, and Crêpe and Penn, as well as forthcoming in ANMLY and Fairy Tale Review. You can find more about her at clayrebenzadon.com.

by Clayre Benzadón

tonight I wedge
the moon
into bottom
of glass

con cada luna llena

watch it erupt
leak teal

cuando llega
el atardecer

I can’t squeeze
Julieta Venega’s
“Limon Y Sal” out

of my head
only Clase Azul
finger-

tip swirling
salt around
the rim

of a shotglass

Evening brings out
the bluest part

almost half
of this lemonmilk

body is salted
by silicon

dioxide glass
created by meteoroids

hitting it

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Clayre Benzadón is an MFA student at the University of Miami, editor of Sinking City, and Broadsided Press’s Instagram editor. Her chapbook, Liminal Zenith was published by SurVision Books. She was awarded the 2019 Alfred Boas Poetry Prize for "Linguistic Rewilding." Additionally, her work has been featured in places including Pussy Magic, Kissing Dynamite, Hobart, and forthcoming in ANMLY, Fairy Tale Review, and Crêpe and Penn.