on loveliness
i read somewhere
that a group of ladybugs is called
a loveliness. and i wonder
what the person who gave them
that name (surely someone of at least
measurable humanity) knew,
or thought they did, about what love
—what kind, specifically—so embeds
itself in a thing that the thing,
subsequently, becomes an embodiment
of that love: the way river breaks into current;
the way trees make forest, simply
by standing closer to each other
than to anything else…
…by which I mean: i need you
to tell me which of my black spots
you find loveliest. which interruption
of my red feels most human
to the forest of your fingers; the current
you river into touch
along my breaking skin.
Copyright © 2024 Ariana Benson. Originally published in Kenyon Review, Summer 2024. Published with permission of the poet.