I had a body and it was good
until you gave it meaning.
Meaning ruined pleasure
and created it
so ruin creates
and pleasure’s meaning
I didn’t ask for just lived through
a gate that shrieked each time
it opened and on the street
we passed one another
flicking our eyes at then away from
the bodies made boring
by the small clamors that drown out
the one large clamor.
Something in the tree is arguing with the tree?
No that’s just the tree.
“Tautology” Copyright © 2018 by Ari Banias. Originally published in BathHouse Journal. Used with the permission of the poet.