Salt Boys

Grasping at a stream of water

Rung out from a sudded rag,

Your focus is so high above you.

Below the tub is brimmed full.

I am a salt boy

Born to a salt man

In a country

Much the same

Humbly, here’s what I’ve found:

Salt boys lack for nothing.

Our limbs are strong, our stomachs full,

But we are always hungry.

Out in the country side (I’m told),

A tree can trick a person.

Stealthy subterranean roots

Glut passerbys with pheromones.

So, if you’re a salt boy too,

It’ll be my fault, of course.

Trees can’t sneak around in cities

Where men are always hungry

with nothing to eat except salt.

From Ben Chase: I'm an actor living in New York City, probably best known for playing Det. Freddie Washburn on Law and Order: Organized Crime (spoiler: Freddie doesn't play by the rules) and Mark Berquist in the Netflix film The Last Thing He Wanted, opposite Anne Hathaway and Ben Affleck. I'm currently one of the leads of the mini series The Thing About Pam for NBC opposite Renee Zellweger. I have an MFA from Brown, but it's in acting. My brother and I direct music videos and commercials. My brother won an Emmy, which makes me the other guy in that equation. Along the way I've published short stories, poetry, and done a lot of New York theater (like a lot). I just had a son and write/think about him fairly constantly.