The Invisible Hand

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You can’t argue with the market,
he said. Then left the room to piss.

While he was gone
market forces dictated

that someone take his chair.

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A native of Mississippi, Benjamin Morris is the author of one book of nonfiction and two books of poetry, including Coronary (Fitzgerald Letterpress, 2011) and Ecotone (Antenna/Press Street Press, 2017). His work has appeared in such places as The Oxford American, Lithub, and The Southern Review, and received creative and academic fellowships from the Mississippi Arts Commission, Tulane University, and A Studio in the Woods. Recently he won the 2021 Words & Music Writing Competition for Poetry, judged by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. He lives in New Orleans, where he serves as one of the coordinators for the New Orleans Poetry Festival.

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