conundrum
Betsy Johnson-Miller

a clutch of jonquils
in my back pocket

will not bring the elusive
tranquil life to bloom

in any large or small
room I enter because

inevitably I will be invited
to sit, relax

therefore crushing the beautiful
because it’s a command

I’d give anything
to obey



Betsy Johnson-Miller’s work has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, Boulevard, AGNI (online), North American Review, and Poet Lore.