Chantel Langlinais Carlson, Two Poems

Chantel Langlinais Carlson writes, “Both of these poems were written using a quill (in response to a cfp I saw that was looking for writing that did away with 'newer' forms of technology/writing implements) . . . it proved a much more challenging process than I imagined, but it also made for an interesting writing experience! It looks easier in the movies.” (It’s worth noting, as a matter of principle, that everything looks easier in the movies.) Anyway, I asked her to send jpegs to document the whole process, and the result makes me very happy that Chantel (rather than I) undertook this effort to get back to goose-based technology. (JM)

         
     

         Aperture

Past thyme and rain on the window’s

stillness, a woman’s gaze

turns to blue. Quilled in blue seeped through

to vein the blood with ink

now gone dry. A woman’s gaze turns

to her skin, Rorschach forms

islands and daggers and ships sail

across life lines once held

in a gypsy’s palm. The bourbon

moon never tasted so

good. A woman’s gaze turns to shut

ticks and stocks of time-crossed

memory. Drawn feathered. Drawn blue.

         Extraction

My genius tired of beat boxing

in the corner, choking

on consonants I never caught.

He pulled cobwebs off his

eyelash and blew them into air

forming feathers that took

flight. I, too busy to notice,

stepped over them—now I

am ready—but never was good

at catching fireflies.

To wake the lost ghost kidnapped by

inconsistency, I

write. The corner shadows wisp–then—

only silence answers.

  

Chantel Langlinais Carlson received her Ph.D. in Modern Drama with an emphasis in Creative Writing from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2007. She is currently an Instructor of English at Texas Christian University, where she teaches modern drama, poetry, film, and composition. Next Stage Press recently accepted her one-act play, The Exhibit, for publication. Her poetry chapbook, Turning 25, was published in 2011 by Nous-zot Press. Her poetry has appeared in Ekleksographia, damselfly press, The Southwestern Review, and The Louisiana Review, and her critical work has appeared in the Interdisciplinary Humanities Journal and the Louisiana English Journal.