by Jack B. Bedell

—after Francesca Woodman’s Eel Series, 1978

is what we can never be:
pure curve. Even in a simple
bowl, it bends itself infinitely, spirals
against itself forever, without
its lines coming to an end,
or to angles that find themselves
trapped in every part of us
no matter how gracefully
we place our bodies on
the floor surrounding it.
 

Jack B. Bedell is Professor of English and Coordinator of Creative Writing at Southeastern Louisiana University where he also edits Louisiana Literature and directs the Louisiana Literature Press. Jack’s work has appeared in HAD, Heavy Feather, Pidgeonholes, The Shore, Moist, Okay Donkey, EcoTheo, The Hopper, Terrain, and other journals. He has also had work included in Best Microfiction and Best Spiritual Literature. His latest collection is Against the Woods’ Dark Trunks (Mercer University Press, 2022). He served as Louisiana Poet Laureate 2017-2019.