The Department of Licensing<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The large woman who squints up
\nfrom behind her desk, her coffee and computer,
\nand the photos of the smiling family,
\nasks if I\u2019m an organ donor
\nand then if I\u2019m a registered voter.
\nBehind me, across the disinfected
\nwaiting room, a child coughs
\nwhose mother once had someone needle
\ninto the upper, fleshy part
\nof her breast the name \u201cMark,\u201d now
\nyellowed like an old newspaper headline,
\nwho would not vote for me, or me her,
\nneither of us desiring anything
\nof the other\u2019s organs.<\/p>\n
For a moment, in this glow
\nfrom the large window (that should be
\na wall) overlooking the parking lot
\nand my old truck \u2014 the light
\nspilling in upon the polished floor,
\nthe white stucco walls \u2014 and for all of us
\nresigned to the strange need
\nto license ourselves,
\nto squint at one another
\nand cover our coughing mouths
\nfor the betterment of the general public,
\nthis is how it is.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Boyd W. Benson<\/a> spent his youth in Everett and Whidbey Island.\u00a0 A semi-professional musician, he moved to Idaho in his early twenties and ended up in Clarkston, Washington, where he spent over two decades.\u00a0 He has recently moved back to Everett.\u00a0 He\u2019s most comfortable as a cook, but he\u2019s dabbled at many roles.\u00a0 He taught writing at Washington State University for a decade.\u00a0 He\u2019s currently trying his hand at freelance writing and, likewise, playing music in Everett, and looking for employment.\u00a0 All in all, the game of poetry has been very good to him, enabling him to meet and converse with poets and writers he\u2019s always admired, and he would like to thank the various editors and committees that have supported his work.\u00a0 Since poetry has little or no economic value in a capitalist society, he believes in it highly, and remains humbled by all the poets of Washington.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Department of Licensing The large woman who squints up from behind her desk, her coffee and computer, and the photos of the smiling family, asks if I\u2019m an organ donor and then if I\u2019m a registered voter. Behind … Continue reading