If this Poetic Interlude feels like a message or mirror, share it with someone who is looking to think about rest differently.
What are the qualities, obvious and subtle, that show up for you?
This Poetic Interlude features Benin Lemus and also celebrates the 20th Anniversary of Torch Literary Arts, an organization established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women.
In this Poetic Interlude, Benin Lemus, a Torch Feature and known poet in the Torch community, reads “The Fifth City,” first published by the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles, as part of their Cultural Trailblazers 2026 artist recognition.
Creatives, including poets, show us how to embrace our humanity and act on our truths. We in The Rest of Us community view this as a deep connection to one’s own agency — our definition of rest.
Settle into the work of Benin Lemus and even explore your own creativity, which we define as liberatory rest.
Poem: “The Fifth City”
At the edge of the highway
Edge of the mountains away from sunset
Beginning of sunrise cicadas
Find nests nymphs underground
As adults in branches laurel sumac
At petals of each flowers bees
Suck heartily as sun bursts earlier
Further from summer equinox
As autumn comes closer away
From longest days as evening walks
Become race for daylight remembered
Sacred nature present each footstep
Slit loam path
Reflections
The desert landscape can offer us a place of deep peace and comfort, if one knows how to connect with the stillness. It reminds us to move differently, to accommodate the climate and terrain. Reflect on a place where you automatically are called to slow down, to pay attention, to perhaps, bask and immerse yourself in the awe of your surroundings. What are the qualities both obvious and subtle that show up for you? How do (or would you like to) embody those qualities in your everyday life?
About the Poet
Benin Lemus (she/her) is a Los Angeles-based poet, librarian, and educator. Her 2022 debut poetry collection, Dreaming in Mourning, was published by World Stage Press. She was an Inaugural Workshop Fellow with Obsidian Magazine’s O|Sessions: Black Listening—A Performance Master Class, a Pushcart Prize nominee, and received Honorable Mention in the 2022 Furious Flower Poetry Center’s annual competition. Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Callaloo, Consequence, and TORCH Literary Arts Magazine, among others. In 2024, Benin served as the poetry judge for AWP’s Intro Journals Project. She teaches poetry in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program.
PUBLICATIONS: Dreaming in Mourning
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Meet the Host:
Dana Tenille Weekes
Dana Tenille Weekes made the conscious decision to live in a mindset of rest as self-liberation after nearly 15 years as a lawyer-lobbyist in Washington, DC. In 2020, Dana faced the darkest period of her life, which eventually led her to resign from a top global law firm and take a year-long journey of rest in 2022.
In 2023, Dana launched Thrive Architects, a strategic advising and professional development firm building advocacy, organizational health, and well-being platforms for organizations, communities, and people to thrive.
The Rest of Us podcast is one way Dana is building community for professionals and advocates on the brink of burnout to think about rest differently. If you’re interested in embracing rest as liberation, especially after the podcast episode ends, join our community where we converse, connect, cultivate, and lean into our creativity.