New at Last Grotto: "Morning Road" by Jacob Friesenhahn

A spare, haunting poem about flight and what follows. A figure drives into dawn, but the opening stanza establishes the stakes immediately:

Stopping would name
what was done.

The poem tracks the liminal moment between night and day, as the speaker moves forward into light while "the dark keeps pace, / waiting / in the long spaces— / unbroken / by mile markers." Despite the forward motion, despite the road curving and fields opening, the darkness persists—not left behind but traveling alongside, patient and unnamed.

A meditation on evasion, guilt, and the impossibility of outrunning what we carry. Published here for the first time.

From Jacob Friesenhahn's collection The Prayer of the Mantis (Kelsay Books, 2025).

https://lastgrotto.net/posts/morning-road/

#poetry #contemporarypoetry #guilt #flight #PoetryMatters #LiteraryArts

There is something timeless about the structure of a well-crafted limerick. 🏛️🖋️

I’m sharing a wonderful new resource by Marshal Flam: "Fun and Clever Limericks Examples for Every Mood." It’s a straightforward, humanized look at the mechanics of this classic poetic form. If you appreciate clever wordplay and clear, concise storytelling, you’ll find this collection very refreshing.

Full article here:
🔗 https://www.wordlelimericks.com/limericks-examples/

#Limericks #Writing #LiteraryArts #MarshalFlam #CreativeExpression

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

Miss January reads a beautiful poem about a brief encounter, aptly named “Encounter.” This is part of our playlist of romantic and erotic poems. Check out that playlist as well as our other playlists and don’t forget to like and subscribe.

#poetry #poetrylovers #poetrycommunity #spokenword #literaryarts #romantic https://youtu.be/4_cT8Z--qBM?si=lTsqJEoHpMDjFyG1

Miss January joins us for a #Caturday poem —“The Cat Philosopher.” Ladies, would you like to be a guest reader on our channel? You can read your original poem or we can provide one. Let us know in the comments or email us at [email protected]

Music by MJN (used wirh permission). #poetry #poetrylovers #spokenword #poetrycommunity #LiteraryArts
https://youtu.be/H1EePQWBlWE?si=HzTn2UWz_eLOy0Mw

In other news...
#UrsulaKLeGuin’s home will become a writers residency

By HILLEL ITALIE
Updated 8:00 AM EDT, June 10, 2024

"Downes-Le Guin, who also serves as his mother’s literary executor, now hopes to give contemporary authors access to her old writing space. #LiteraryArts, a community nonprofit based in #PortlandOregon, announced Monday that Le Guin’s family had donated their three-story house for what will become the Ursula K. Le Guin Writers Residency.

"Le Guin, who died in 2018 at age 88, was a Berkeley, California, native who in her early 30s moved to Portland with her husband, Charles. Le Guin wrote such classics as 'The Left Hand of Darkness' and 'The Dispossessed' in her home, mostly in a corner space that evolved from a nursery for her three children to a writing studio.

"'Our conversations with Ursula and her family began in 2017,' the executive director of Literary Arts, Andrew Proctor, said in a statement. 'She had a clear vision for her home to become a creative space for writers and a beacon for the broader literary community.'"

https://apnews.com/article/ursula-k-le-guin-home-writers-residency-8a119efb584b4446056c12405186f4fd

#Writers #ScienceFiction #LeGuin #LiteraryCommunity #Books

2 MORE DAYS until the BIG DAY! Arboreal’s Inaugural Issue Release is Wednesday, February 15 @ 9am PST!

You as jazzed as we are? 😅

#arboreal #literaryjournals #litmaglove #litmag #litmags #litmagazine #litmagazines #litmagart #litmagswelove #litmaglife #literarymagazine #literaryjournal #literarylife #visualart #writingcommunity #writerscommunity #poetry #poetrycommunity #creativewriting #literarure #art #literaryarts #magazine #newissue #writersofmastodon #poetsofmastodon #artistsonmostodon

Today's preview of our inaugural issue (OUT FEBRUARY 15) comes from an ingenious new #poem by #poet Dave Shortt.

#poetry #poetrycommunity #poetrylovers #writer #writing #writingcommunity #writerscommunity #writersofig #literarymagazines #literarymagazine #literaryjournals #literature #litmag #litmags #literary #literaryarts #creativewriting #poetsofmastodon #writersofmastodon