To those who call me beautiful

By Jacob Dimpsey

dear spectator, i am words on the lips

of a politician on a daytime news program.

i am a fraction of a number in a newspaper headline,

a memory recalled with tears, with laughter,

with anger. i am an american flag hoisted

at half-staff. my death is cited in a bestseller.

my death is retweeted. i am

in your thoughts and prayers. 

my death is martyrdom, a statistic. i am

columbines growing in a flower bed under

a window to be plucked and held momentarily

then left to wilt. and now i am beautiful

words on the lips of a poet who never

knew me. i am aestheticized 

by his words and, dear reader, 

they mean nothing to me. 

Jacob Dimpsey is a senior creative writing major from Lykens, Pennsylvania. His work has appeared in Essay, The Sanctuary, Flock literary journal, as well as previous issues of RiverCraft.