Lauren K. Carlson

Manifesto Against the Universal

The world of the outer senses is the world/
The world of the inner senses is the world/

And do I consent to the peonies, reaching?
And do I consent to the tulips bleeding red petals?
And do I consent to the narcissus who declines to raise her face?
And do I consent to the maple who lords all?

And I consent to your hand,
which reaches inside me.

And I consent to your warmth
where my skin enters your mouth.

And I consent to my physical body
which cannot become your body.

And I consent to the pleasure of meeting
our separate bodies with intimacy— 

There is no connection without difference.
            There is no world without consent to the world.

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/