Ace Boggess

“Why Are We All So Curious?”

— Question asked by Kathy Sovine Roberts

You’ve named gods of mountains,
gods of sand & salt & sun, god of whiskey—met him?

We want to be the ones to stay awake,
wallowing in suffering: emptiness & atoms,

perception—which might be another myth
we self-invent. Sartre said it best when he said,

“Good night, dear, I think I’ll turn in,”
although in French, which you don’t read

so have to trust the translator
is honest. Hint: he isn’t.

Ace Boggess is author of six books of poetry, most recently Escape Envy (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2021). His poems have appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, J Journal, South Carolina Review, Hotel Amerika, and other journals. An ex-con, he lives in Charleston, West Virginia, where he writes and tries to stay out of trouble.

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