Lauren Reynolds

Lived this long
with a maelstrom
inside.
In and out
and up from below
up from below
up from below

It snakes and
sneers,
It festers and cries.
In and out and up from
below.

The pulsing center,
red will glow.
The fear that shakes
will grow and grow,
up and through
and far down below.

We can deny it,
embrace it,
or let it be so.
Up through the belly,
constricting the heart,
bursting up in the subway
& public places.
Overwhelmed,
in pain,
with nowhere
to go...

Running its course
through our guts
to our toes...
in and out & up
from below
up from below
up from below…


Gerald So reads "Oblivion":



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Lauren confesses: "This poem was inspired by a mantra in my head, as well as a movie character. He is overwhelmed by destructive and uncontrollable bursts of magic, personified by him turning in to a swirling black mass. This is a metaphor for the isolation we feel with our own dark thoughts."

LAUREN REYNOLDS is an author of two chapbooks of poetry, most recently, The Light Box, from Finishing Line Press. She also has a full-length collection of ekphrastic poetry, based on her love of visual arts. She is a writer and a teacher of English and the visual arts.