L. Ward Abel

Remnants in the Lake Bed

Low areas under open
yellowpink skies, a reflection
on dry mud here.

I smell autumn long before
the golden time. It’s quiet.
Reminds me of a day

not so long past, that time I cratered,
it left a window
that still won’t heal, but I manage.

Life has bled, pooled,
a deep tattoo shows through my shirt
like I’ve been under rain.

But lakes are down and short of water,
artifacts they shine in the glare,
my pond is a ghost

a waning stain:
in the season of days
seeking shade from a trauma.


Poet, composer of music (Max Able / Abel, Rawls & Hayes) and spoken-word performer (Scapeweavel, L. Ward Abel lives in rural Georgia, and has been widely published in the U.S., Europe and Asia, including White Pelican Review, The Pedestal, Versal (Netherlands), Juked, Angel Face, OpenWide (UK), Ink Pot, Texas Poetry Journal, Kritya (India), Words-Myth, edificeWrecked, The Reader, (UK), others. His chapbook, Peach Box and Verge, has been published by Little Poem Press (2003). Twenty of his poems are featured, along with an interview, in a recent print issue of erbacce (UK). His new full book of poems, Jonesing For Byzantium, has just been published at UK Authors Press (London, 2006).

 Current Issue:
January 2008

L. Ward Abel
Gary Beck
Melinda Blount
Chris Crittenden
Caitlin Crowley
Taylor Graham
Paul Hostovsky
Michael Keshigian
Corey Mesler
Tim Poland

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