Posted on by Laura Lee

Streetlight Literary Magazine, a Mini-Review

streetlights    Streetlight Magazine ‘s

mission is “to publish exceptional talent, both new and established, from our region and across the country.”  Streetlight publishes poetry, fiction, essays, memoir, art/ photography, and blog posts.  In addition, Streetlight sponsors writing contests and strives for a three-month decision on submissions.  Publishing since 2012, it appears each issue contains poetry, fiction, essays/ memoir, art/photography, and blog posts.  The latest issue contained an ekphrastic poem, always a plus for me.  The artists do get a short bio with publication, another plus.

I found the site a bit confusing to navigate, but the content good. The artwork and photography was breath-taking.

It’s good to find new writing sites, and I enjoyed this one.

Thanks for reading!

Laura Lee

 

Posted on by Laura Lee

Link to Two Published Poems at Tuck Magazine

tuck magazineI am pleased to have had two poems published here, in Tuck Magazine.

I am particularly happy to be published here since Tuck Magazine tries to bring social justice issues to light, while helping its writers publish.  Perhaps you want to get a more global look at issues; Tuck Magazine does that.

Where have you been submitting?  How is writing and publishing going for you?

Thanks for reading!

Laura Lee

Posted on by Laura Lee

Coffin Bell Journal, a mini-review

Another interesting site.  This is not my genre, dark literature, but I realize many of my writings contain very dark elements–just not supernatural.  With some editing, they could fit the genre.  In any case, here is a journal that has an interesting premise.  From scary housetheir website:  Coffin Bell

Coffin Bell is a new quarterly online journal of dark literature seeking poetry, flash fiction, short stories, and creative nonfiction exploring dark themes. When we say “dark themes,” we don’t necessarily mean traditional horror. Send us your waking nightmares, dark CNF, dystopian flash, cursed verse. Surprise us. Make us think in a new way. Give us a new fear. Make our skin crawl.

If you write flash fiction or dark verse, read here  and consider submitting.  The site is attractive, the care given to writers evident in their bios.  What an interesting group of writers published there already, from lawyers to ghost writers.

Yesterday I changed the speaker of a poem from human to animal, something I’ve not done before.  Have you considered writing outside of your genre?  If so, what was your experience?

Thanks for reading!

Posted on by Laura Lee

Belied/rough draft

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Parking here to edit and revise

Belied

The woods, late spring
pond at sunsets
bat-skimmed surface
white tail pulled down
new leaves. The hawk flew low
as well.

 

Over the walking path
my shadow squat and low

No wings
no hooves, no wild thing.

Even the blue jay flew low
that night, while grasshoppers
jumped quickly across the path
my short shadowed sadness and dread
belied the flood of gold.

Posted on by Laura Lee

Palette Poetry, a good poetry site (mini review)

palette      Poets, another good site for reading poetry and for celebrating poetry is Palette Poetry.    Palette states its mission is:

…to uplift and engage emerging and established poets in our larger community.

The world is eager for poets. In 2016, more people spent their hard earned money on poetry books than any other year on record. When times are dark, the world always turns to poets for empathy, for answers, for words, bucking and new.

Palette Poetry is here to paint our small part of the world with truth through poetry, as hopeful and eviscerating as truth can be.

Palette sponsors contests, publishes poetry, promotes fun with and improvement of poetry.   I love Palette’s lack of pretension, as shown by these words:

Our goal is to simply find and publish the best poetry we can, no matter its roots in craft.

If you love to read and or write poetry, this would be a great site to visit.  If you hope to be published there, the editors note that they publish only the best poetry, so be sure to submit only your best.

Their site is inviting and exciting.  Why not visit Palette Poetry?

Posted on by Laura Lee

Poem in response to a photo prompt from long ago

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This photo was the prompt.  And this is one of the many versions of the poem I wrote, most lost.  I found this on an old document from 1999.   Oh my, so many of those abstract concepts.  But fun to find.  Hmm… maybe another rewrite is in order.

I wonder what the news was of the day that convinced me the cold ones rule? I know it’s sure something I still fee.

The Stranger

Oh, so cold
the stranger is everywhere
the soul? sniveling little pest
we’ve sent away.

Trust us, you can
not trust us
Can’t read us, can you?

Modernity’s muse:
mirthless smiles
We see through you
but we are divine;
you cannot
comprehend us.

The stranger is everywhere,
existential nausea chokes.

It’s just that simpering little pest,
that whiner, that soul.

(c) L. Lee 2000

Posted on by Laura Lee

Writing to and in the voices of fictional characters

writing to characters

       I’ve written to fictional characters for many years; sometimes, I get replies.  When very young, I used to write to Anne Frank to offer comfort, to seek comfort, to wish she had lived.  Imagine what she could have written, what she could have become as an adult. I wrote to her when I was very young, before I really understood her history.  I wrote to her as if she were a character in a book, and I just loved her.

I have written in characters’ voices to other characters, in the form of ekphrastic poems.

I have written poetry in the voices of Levin from Anna Karenina, of Macduff from Macbeth, of Simon from Lord of the Flies.  I have written in the voice of Lucy Gayheart in Willa Cather’s fine novel of the same name.  To characters in the novels of Thomas Wolfe–o, lost!  To characters in the amazing novels of John Steinbeck.  To characters in those many young adult novels I read when a teen–I wanted to tell them I understood.

Do many others do this?  It seems such an incredible thing to me when a writer creates characters that truly speak to me; they help me grow as a person.  They help me empathize, see things from other points of views.

From one mind to another, across the years and the miles? That’s such an amazing gift of literacy.  Literacy means we don’t have to be confined to one place and time, and that is a priceless gift.

Posted on by Laura Lee

Encirclement of Sparrows

sparrow-bird-animal-nature-86591This rough draft came out of a challenge to use the expression “an encirclement of birds”. 

(First draft)

Encirclement of Sparrows
 

Roar like a train through the living room
  extra blankets on windows, surely frozen shut.
  Power lines down
  heat off, lights off,
  all shut down.


 Move away from the windows, he said.
  I want to be near when the sun rises, she said,
  You know me and sunshine-- I’ve got to--
  I know he said,
  I know, and they
  huddled under yet another blanket and shut down.

Listen, she whispered,
  hours or days or moments later,
  I hear the sunrise.
 Gray light through the curtains, and then
  tap, tap, tap
 on the tree branches
  scraping the windows
  an encirclement of sparrows.