{"id":4123,"date":"2022-02-02T23:17:19","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T23:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-the-words\/?page_id=4123"},"modified":"2024-07-30T17:26:41","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T17:26:41","slug":"wordplay-with-ben-zimet","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/the-words-february-2022\/wordplay-with-ben-zimet\/","title":{"rendered":"Wordplay with Ben Zimet"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Patrick Coy-Bjork ’23<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Ben<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This month, the editors at <\/span>The Words<\/span><\/i> are excited to showcase the work of Ben Zimet for Wordplay!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBen Zimet is a junior planning to double major in Math and English. They read their poems for an audience for the first time last summer, and they’re excited to continue to create and improve as a writer. Their favorite thing about writing is exploring sound, and trying to make language immediately evocative through sound.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy two of their poems below!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be Banished, My Self Doubt, and May Fiberglass Fill its Place <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sit Shiva for the sunrise<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until I can carve a facsimile from cardboard<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or find my guiding light <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under a cairn of cast out overgarments.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sing my own praises in the shower<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But every note is flat, dashed against <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rocks of mounting evidence,<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sprung forth like Athena<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the only meteorite I can hold in my hands.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem with dreaming,<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With putting yourself in the glittering, squealing shoes<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the ones who jump to the rafters <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And shoot from the parking lot,<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is the punch that reminds you<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why they\u2019re called the nosebleeds<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immolation at the Hands of a Rear Back and Wildfire<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A miscast stone <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

scrapes heretic scalps <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

twice a day,<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

so statistically what\u2019s the point of not<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

reaching back and firing<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

whatever you can grab,<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

whether that be <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

paving stones or prayers, <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

sharpened sticks or sympathy.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A punch starts from the shoulder<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

but a good throw<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

begins as an embrace,<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

arms reaching for contact<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

that a projectile\u2019s innominate thud<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

can\u2019t provide.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if I\u2019m going to spend the rest of forever <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this soul-bereft star stud,<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I may as well saunter out of the streaming wreckage<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of a flashbang in a fireworks stand,<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pull my lips out of their insistent purse and<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bare my yellowing ursines <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up at everything that can\u2019t hear the chatter<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of wind up dentures,<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or the agonized yawps of outgrowing illusion.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Patrick Coy-Bjork ’23 This month, the editors at The Words are excited to showcase the work of Ben Zimet for Wordplay! \u201cBen Zimet is a junior planning to double major in Math and English. They read their poems for an audience for the first time last summer, and they’re excited to continue to create […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":913,"featured_media":0,"parent":4119,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4123","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4123"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7099,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4123\/revisions\/7099"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}