Linda Kleinbub received her MFA from The New School. She is curator and host of Fahrenheit Open Mic & founder of Pen Pal Poets. She has hosted readings at the Playhouse Theater, New York City Poetry Festival, 6BC Botanical Garden, and Black & White. She is the editor of The Silver Tongued-Devil Anthology (Pink Trees Press, 2020.) She is a former mentor and committee member at Girls Write Now, an organization that works with high-school girls interested in writing. Her work is found at The Best American Poetry, Brooklyn Rail, The Observer, Sensitive Skin Magazine, Yahoo! Life, and multiple anthologies. Some of her poems are found at https://www.instagram.com/lindakleinbub/ Her first full-length book of poetry is forthcoming. Photo: Art Kaye.
Relic
We rush about gathering pages. What colorful lament leaves regret?
Leaves we’ve meant to photograph. We gaze up looking for stars Building the sun.
The equality of secrets, Secrets positioned, Pruned and tied neatly along the fence.
Task at hand becomes a distraction: Phone calls unanswered, Voices unheard, Messages unread.
Is there serenity in the steps you shuffle?
And what comes of the pages? Myths of scorn and greed Blanketed in the silence of memory lost.
We return again to meditate As we move along underground tracks Through underwater tunnels.
We gather again.
A scrap of ideas, A phrase of prayer, A creation, we made. Our ancestor’s assignment remembered.
What will be remembered? In this rhythm beaten down Generations lost, A faded photograph-