Poet of the MonthJoanna ValenteApril 06, 2021Andrea Blythe, poetry, poet of the month

Andrea Blythe: April 2021 Poet of the Month

Poet of the MonthJoanna ValenteApril 06, 2021Andrea Blythe, poetry, poet of the month

Little Ghost

Fate is risky, all set-up

and thin chances.

Scales balance.

People die.

The universe

doesn’t invite returns.

But there you are,

your face blurry and bright,

material enough

to be moderately dangerous.

Smoking and bloody,

you rattle in creaky houses,

invite the possibility

of concurrence.

You expected a psychic event,

infestations and delusions,

or at least a little

misapprehension.

But everyone is quite

even tempered.

One can only go so far

to remember you, after all.

Source: King, Stephen, The Plant, Philtrum Press, pages 4-7.

The Zenith

I ghosted society and ended up

impersonating a dead dog.

I invited chatty cockroaches

and hectoring wasps.

It was a lesser doom, I assured you.

Have I not a right to be so

blithely veiled and deadened?

No one understands my gonzo

position. They doubt the merit.

But knowing me as you do,

you don’t ask why—only laugh

and send a bouquet of flowers.

Source: King, Stephen, The Plant, Philtrum Press, page 17-18.

Andrea Blythe bides her time waiting for the apocalypse by writing speculative poetry and fiction. She is the author of three poetry chapbooks, the most recent being Twelve: Poems Inspired by the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale (Interstellar Flight Press, 2020). She cohosts the New Books in Poetry podcast and is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. Find her online at andreablythe.com or on Twitter/Instagram @AndreaBlythe.

Joanna Valente