Lauren K. Carlson

Location History

Near rivers.
Near creaks.
Near gutters.
Near storm drains.
Near damns.
Near fish ladders.
Near faucets.
Near shower heads.
Near wells.
Near ponds.
Near sloughs.
Near the artesian spring.
Near rainfall.
Near snow showers.
Near thunderstorms.
Near oceans.

Always along
the waterways,

where is the water
I know, I know well its shores—

God must not exist
us so close to heavens.

So distant, deserted
from the paths

called water,
God must not.

Lauren K. Carlson is a poet and spiritual director living in Manistee, Michigan. She is the author of Animals I Have Killed (Comstock Review’s Chapbook Prize 2018). Her work has recently appeared in Crab Creek Review, Salamander Magazine, Terrain, The Windhover, and Waxwing. In 2022 she won the Levis Stipend from Friends of Writers for her manuscript in progress. Her writing has been supported by Tin House, Napa Valley Writers Conference and Sewanee Writers Conference. She currently serves as editor for Tinderbox Poetry Journal and holds an MFA in poetry from the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers.

https://www.laurenkcarlson.com/