swifts  &  s l o w s · a quarterly of crisscrossings

even almost as
Ben Tripp

← back or next →

no musketeer, cossack

ship-of-the-line better than

a frigate, a galleon or

trireme galley

the first incursion of

the mighty caravel

so lithe, maneuverable

and made the world new

circumnavigated the globe

the explanation serves no positive

is the ironic negativity

everybody’s so afraid of

evades prescription, or conscription

disposition, that would be likably

Its about-ness

The green skin of the pear

could be a balloon

holding water

pront-

that’s sure right

pearl and coral gates

of an underwater kingdom

even almost as

a matter of fact

nevertheless actually

the way I see it

← back or next →

Writer and performer Ben Tripp has had other excerpts from his working manuscript published in Ugly Duckling Presse’s print journal “Second Factory” this past Fall ’23 and online with Eratio Postmodern Poetry. The manuscript was also shortlisted for the National Poetry Series in ’21. Other poems have appeared with Heavy Feather Review, Lemon Hound, West Wind Review and elsewhere. Criticism too, Tripp has written for the Rail, BOMB, Hyperallergic, Full-Stop Quarterly and the Los Angeles Review. Blog is at benjamintripp.wordpress.