A Poem by Julie Benesh

is the one about passing time: those old movies
where wind blows the calendar pages and clocks
run down; the commercials where kids
grow up in an instant or morph
into their paunchy parents.

But there’s that other poem that stops time
like a snapshot that is not your wedding
or anything designated special. Just a leaf, a tear,
a wave: a moment in its universal uniqueness,
which is also about passing time:

movies; clocks; kids morph parents; time;
wedding, tear, uniqueness
time.

Julie Benesh has published stories, poems, and essays in Tin House, Crab Orchard Review, Florida Review, Hobart, Cleaver, and many other places. She is a graduate of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College in Writing and the recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Grant. Read more at juliebenesh.com.