although the morning glory flashes its pink striations
although the sweetness of spiced cream in the morning cup
although the lone gull creaking in the copse
although garden lanterns spin like paper satellites
although you laugh when you drop lettuce in your lap
although one crow alights on the jetty and then another
although your palm presses carrots into velvet muzzle
although ivy climbs the window every summer
although the sun lights up your naked silhouette
although the galleon cloud breathes softly in the west
although storm trees shake their witchy hair
although there was a day when you felt tender
although wrapped in the duvet
although fiddlehead fern

even though cats’ whiskers!
even though july sky!

—Listen,

     the joy
is frivolous. the joy
is a mushy little
quicksand. don’t
stick your toe in.
     i mean
can you imagine
if it was just
your stupor’d
fragile body
seizing
the burden
of all that is
lush & unruly?

Jill Khoury is a multiply disabled poet and a Western Pennsylvania Writing Project fellow. She has taught poetry in high school, university, and enrichment settings. She holds an MFA from The Ohio State University and edits Rogue Agent, a journal of embodied poetry and art. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in numerous journals, including Copper Nickel, Bone Bouquet, Dream Pop, and CALYX. She has written two chapbooks—Borrowed Bodies (Pudding House) and Chance Operations (Paper Nautilus). Her debut full-length collection, Suites for the Modern Dancer, was released from Sundress Publications. Find more at jillkhoury.com.