New at Last Grotto: "Sad" by Jacob Friesenhahn

A spare, devastating dialogue that circles around a paradox: the speaker is content with their quiet routines (morning walks, coffee, watching the news) yet mourns the loss of desire for what once felt vital—bars, beaches, the freedom to "fuck up" without consequence.

Then why are you sad?
I'm sad
because I don't feel like it.

The poem captures something often unspoken: the grief of no longer wanting a life that once felt electric, the strange melancholy of growing into contentment. A dialogue between logic and memory that never resolves.

First publication at the Last Grotto. From Jacob Friesenhahn, author of The Prayer of the Mantis (Kelsay Books, 2025).
https://lastgrotto.net/posts/sad/
#poetry #contemporarypoetry #aging #melancholy #PoetryMatters #MidlifeCrisis

New at Last Grotto: "Never Mind" by Jacob Friesenhahn

An intimate meditation on desire, generosity, and loss—a speaker offers everything (time, gaze, mind) to the beloved while remaining uncertain whether anything of substance remains to be found:

You may drink
from the pools
my eyes have become,
though I would not blame you
if you have a taste instead
for fresh running waters.

Read the full poem on our philosophy and literature blog https://lastgrotto.net/posts/never-mind/

Originally published in Ginosko Literary Journal (#31, Winter 2023-2024), now at Last Grotto.

Jacob Friesenhahn is the author of The Prayer of the Mantis (Kelsay Books, 2025).

#poetry #contemporarypoetry #desire #QueerPoetry #PoetryMatters

New at Last Grotto: "Reading" by Jacob Friesenhahn

An intimate portrait of a tarot reading where the reader's physical presence—painted nails flashing "blue to black and back," hands that "seem soft / so long as they hover / but grow hard / each time they touch a card"—becomes inseparable from the reading itself.

The poem explores how divination operates at the intersection of the mystical and the embodied, where the reader's mood and bearing shape the seeker's interpretation:

If he smiles
life loves me after all.
If he scowls
I have no chance.

Originally published in MSU Roadrunner Review, now at Last Grotto.

https://lastgrotto.net/posts/reading/

#poetry #contemporarypoetry #tarot #divination #occult #romance #PoetryMatters

New at Last Grotto: "Repentance" by Jacob Friesenhahn

A stark meditation on autonomy and grace—three times the speaker refuses: mercy, forgiveness, waiting. The poem's defiant "No" punctuates a voice that insists redemption does not precede the self but meets one where one stands:

I am not asking
for any mercy.
I pray no gods
grant me rest.

From The Prayer of the Mantis (Kelsay Books, 2025), this poem challenges conventional narratives of redemption, asserting the self's integrity against external absolution.

https://lastgrotto.net/posts/repentance/

#poetry #contemporarypoetry #PhilosophyOfReligion #Theology #PoetryMatters #ReligiousStudies

New at Last Grotto: "Purr" by Jacob Friesenhahn

A tender meditation on presence and impermanence—an old cat sleeping on a chest, her purr containing:

𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴
𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩
𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴:

𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘭
𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘭
𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦,
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵
𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘵.

This revised version expands on a poem from Friesenhahn's collection 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴 (Kelsay Books, 2025), finding profound stillness in the space between sleeplessness and dawn.

https://lastgrotto.net/posts/purr/

#poetry #contemporarypoetry #AmWriting #PoetryMatters #AnimalStudies

New poem at Last Grotto: "November" by Jacob Friesenhahn, author of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴.
This last day of November brings us an elegy for a season and for the particular sadness of abandonment.

𝘺𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘕𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘨
𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘺
𝘴𝘬𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵
𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦...

Read the full poem: https://lastgrotto.net/posts/november/

#poetry #contemporarypoetry #AmWriting #PoetryMatters #LiteraryArts

📢 FREE POETRY ALERT! Selected Poetry: Spring 2025 is a must-read—fierce, tender, unforgettable. Don’t miss this groundbreaking collection.

📥 Get it now: https://shorturl.at/NrpSt

Edited by @vespertine4.bsky.social & @katiejenkinspoet.bsky.social.

#FreeDownload #PoetryMatters #PoetryIsLife

📢 FREE POETRY ALERT! Selected Poetry: Spring 2025 is a must-read—fierce, tender, unforgettable. Don’t miss this groundbreaking collection.

📥 Get it now: https://shorturl.at/NrpSt

Edited by @vespertine4.bsky.social & @katiejenkinspoet.bsky.social.

#FreeDownload #PoetryMatters #PoetryIsLife

📢 FREE POETRY ALERT! Selected Poetry: Spring 2025 is a must-read—fierce, tender, unforgettable. Don’t miss this groundbreaking collection.

📥 Get it now: https://shorturl.at/NrpSt

Edited by @vespertine4.bsky.social & @katiejenkinspoet.bsky.social.

#FreeDownload #PoetryMatters #PoetryIsLife