Chiaroscuro

The moon drums its fingers
across Carnelian Lake, shrugs,
waits for the loon cry.
Seckel pears fester on the ground,
soft & meaningless. Blisters
weep for winter, feed
what could become spring.

Could. Conditional tense,
what we wish for. Hope for.
The gaze is everything
Silence scabs thought
& all dead belong to the King.
God. Religion’s needle,
dull blue bruise. Hurt
means feeling & feeling
means alive. We knuckle
our fear. We hope

our feet to the floor
every morning. A new
song drops & we dance
in the kitchen, throw open
our curtains to the sky.

-Lynne Jensen Lampe

My Desirous Destination:

I am lost in the haunted labyrinth of uncertainties.
My frustrations are frightening me
like poltergeists.
Like a vagabond, my conversation is wandering
from person to person
yet no one gave me a compass
that can lead me to
a station from where I can
board a train to relief.
But I don’t wanna
surrender to the tenebrous shell so
I will continue reading and writing poetries
for they are my amulets.

-©Spriha Kant

Bios and Links

-Lynne Jensen Lampe

was born in Newfoundland and raised mostly in Louisiana. Themes of conformity, sanity, gender, and faith often find their way into her work, including her debut collection, Talk Smack to a Hurricane (Ice Floe Press, 2022). Her poems appear in many journals, including Moist, Figure 1, Yemassee, The American Journal of Poetry, and One, as well as UK anthology SMEOP: Urban and on podcasts such as Eat the Storms. She was a finalist for the 2020 Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize. Lynne lives with her husband and two dogs in the US Midwest, where she edits academic books and journals. Find her at https://lynnejensenlampe.com or on Twitter @LJensenLampe.

A link to Lynne’s new book’s page at Ice Floe: https://icefloepress.net/talk-smack-to-a-hurricane-lynne-jensen-lampe/

-Spriha Kant

developed an interest in reading and writing poetries at a very tender age. Her poetry “The Seashell” was first published online in the “Imaginary Land Stories” on August 8, 2020, by Sunmeet Singh. She has been a part of Stuart Matthew’s anthologies “Sing, Do the birds of Spring” and “A Whisper Of Your Love” in the fourth and fifth series of the books from #InstantEternal poetry prompts. She has been featured in the Bob Dylan-inspired anthology “Hard Rain Poetry: Forever Dylan” by the founder and editor of the website “Fevers of the Mind Poetry and Art” David L O’ Nan. Her poetries have been published in the anthology “Bare Bones Writing Issue 1: Fevers of the Mind”. Paul Brookes has featured her poetry, “A Monstrous Shadow” as the “Seventh Synergy” in “SYNERGY: CALLING ALL WRITERS WHO ARE PHOTOGRAPHERS” on his blog “Wombwell Rainbow”. She has been featured in the “Quick-9 interview” on feversofthemind.com by David L’O Nan. Her acrostic poetry “A Rainstorm” has been featured in the Poetic Form Challenge on the blog “Wombwell Rainbow” owned by Paul Brookes. She also joined the movement “World Suicide Prevention Day” by contributing her poetry “Giving Up The Smooch” on the blog “Wombwell Rainbow”, an initiative taken by Paul Brookes. She celebrated National Poetry Day by contributing her poetry “Travel in the Laps of Nature” to the blog “Wombwell Rainbow”. Her poetry “I love your smile” has been featured by Paul Brookes on his blog “Wombwell Rainbow” for the celebration of “World Smile Day”. She has reviewed the poetry books “Silence From The Shadows” by Stuart Matthews and “Spaces” by Clive Gresswell.