Karen Kohler’s prose and poetry (and lyrics) featuring themes of life, art, love, nature, self, the universe and everything. You in the key of mastery.
DURING A SNOWSTORM Time moves in from all sides and vanishes, The Then, the When in motion from here to there. Like shards of Light that penetrate The Darkness and give it breadth, Time punctuates the middle ground into which The All condenses as snowflakes dancing Directionless yet still directed. ~ Karen Kohler
GAIA BREATHING We are at war. We must fight. We must win. A human tactic. To make an "other" of it. Of anything mysterious and therefore threatening. Of anything that is not I, not us. Can we not see with curiosity and ask: What have we done to her? What has she sent us in return? Can we not approach [...]
I SING YOU A SONG OF WINTER I sing you a song of winter. Of withdrawal and retreat. The seeds that we planted in the fall are frozen in the earth. Safe from the winds that would scatter and destroy them. The path is deepening. What stays, what goes. What falls off in decay of the old, tired way. [...]
LUCKY GRAIL Oh mended bone Oh key, oh throne Oh sprawling land of in-betweens Of yeses and of might-have-beens At decade's end I raise my glass You were a kicker in the ass I wipe the curses from my brow You know I loved you anyhow And from the threshold of regret I say, screw you, I'm not through [...]
Every year around this time, I glance from my Brooklyn rooftop at night to see the blue spears of light emanating from lower Manhattan. Today, on the 18th anniversary of 9-11, I locate the journal entry I wrote the day after the attacks. This bit of prose was later published in a collaborative book project benefitting the 9-11 Fund. [...]
Karen's debut poetry collection, Petrichor: Selected Poems, is released. Published by her own Sumya Press, the volume is available for purchase on-line at Blurb.com.
Karen Kohler self-publishes her writing! The Corpses, Karen's first novella, is published in December of 2017 through her own publishing company, Sumya Press. Her debut poetry collection, Petrichor, is released in March of 2019.
~ for Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) I am not sad today Goodbye Jikan To hear you’re on your way Goodbye Jikan You took your life and modeled to me living, loving, dying If I said that I was mourning now you know that I’d be lying What singer mourns a poem anyhow You are my tower of song Goodbye Jikan [...]
Dear Fear, It has taken me some time to get around to this, but with Valentine's Day having recently passed and the world evolving the way it is, I've been thinking a lot about love, affection and their opposites. It's high time I wrote you this letter. The world is full of teachings that would have me confront you, tame you, control [...]
Love is most high More high than sky More salty than the tear From my Beloved's eye And sweeter than a drop of dew Born in a strand of morning's new For love is tall More tall than all More patient than the ancient earth Awaiting autumn's fall And restless as a song of spring Unthroated and untiring For love [...]
