The Only Invitation

Ben Purkert

Feb 08, 2021

I was begging / for some grandeur even if it meant / a little blood or whole limb

Ben Purkert - THE ONLY INVITATION

The Only Invitation

walking in the woods I came upon
a snake it was sunbathing on the trail
not neatly coiled but unashamed it had
acquired its length over the course

of many years it had earned everything
it needed and more I knew the snake
had in mind a grand attack and how
can I explain that I was begging

for some grandeur even if it meant
a little blood or whole limb I bowed
before the snake and promised I was his
I’d do anything he asked and more

at that moment the woods appeared
to fall away not hopelessness exactly
when the world opens its jaws
and invites you to come in

Ben Purkert

Feb 08, 2021

Ben Purkert

Ben Purkert is the author of the forthcoming novel The Men Can't Be Saved (Overlook, 2023). His poetry collection For the Love of Endings (Four Way Books, 2018) was named one of Adroit's Best Poetry Books of the Year. His writing appears in The New Yorker, Poetry, The Nation, Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, and elsewhere. The founding editor of Guernica's Back Draft interview series, he teaches at Rutgers. You can read more of his work at benpurkert.com or on Twitter (@BenPurkert).

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Cover Photo: This photograph shows two men sitting on a sidewalk with typewriters sitting on small tables in front of them. Both men are wearing hats and look classicly writerly; one man stares directly into the camera. At their feet, a sign reads, "Poet for hire. Pay what you want."

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and though the odds say improbable

they ain’t superhuman. ain’t always able / to save the children the men the country or even your silk presses / but whatever they touch. somebody’s good god blesses.