Jodi Bosin
a squirrel on the porch is eating a chip
holding it with both hands
the ad before the news says “make the world your
workplace” and why the hell would i want to do that
remember the dress, i think about it often
i never saw white and gold, only blue and black
reality, they said, does not exist as something separate
from the act of observation1
we know perception is subjective but still
will argue ours til death
we need to feel that something could make sense
schrödinger’s cat was meant to disprove
the very idea it represents
concepts moved forcibly out of context
so much that we can’t and will not understand
how do you know if your life is examined
love is a mystery like sufjan said
but so too is its end
when a leaf falls off a plant
i have a tiny little funeral in my head
an electron is not in any fixed place until it is measured
it is only in that instant that it appears1
i walk past someone with a t-shirt that says “the 1940s” white on black, and that’s it, nothing on the back
i worry about our mailman
especially in this heat, he walks so slowly
green numbers rain from the sky
things that live on like
that “S” that you draw with six lines
on the flip side of mosquitoes, we have
fireflies
before you are observed
you cannot even be conceived of
have you seen the images from
hubble2 those pics are pretty amazing
objects are closer than they appear
if you fall in the forest
i will listen
1 When We Cease to Understand the World, Benjamín Labatut
2 https://esahubble.org/images/archive/top100/
About the Author
Jess Roses (she/they) is a disabled, neurodivergent, emerging writer. Her focus is the transformation of relationships and experiences with pain and the taboo. She explores how these communal experiences form and relate to societal and personal narratives within and without the psyche. She has been published in Bloom Magazine, Coffin Bell Journal, Raven Review, Grub Street Literary Magazine, and more.
Instagram: @jessroseswriting