Synkroniciti is pleased to welcome Houstonian poet Joseph R. Larsen with two atmospheric poems. “Horseman on a Road” is an elegant, romantic villanelle. This is a famously difficult form with its limited rhyme scheme and multiple refrains and Joseph executes it with skill and nuance. The form aids the feverish nature of the poem as the impassioned horseman rides through the night to reach a lady love from whom he has wandered. “What should he say? To what confess?/ He could tell her a sweet lie—/ only shades distinguish.” Their relationship is as murky as shadows in the forest. “Haunts” is a series of haikus on funereal subjects that combine to constitute a meditation on mortality loaded with religious and archetypal imagery. “Death sees through his mouth./ Do not become distracted/ by his painted eyes.” Joseph creates unusual and mysterious combinations that show his skill with small forms and his ability to weave them into a larger whole.
Read Joseph’s virtuosic poetry in Synkroniciti’s “Haunting” issue, Vol. 6, No. 4, available here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Joseph R. Larsen’s poetry has been featured in publications as varied as Dope Fiend Daily, Chaos Dive Reunion by Mutabilis Press, Blonde on Blonde, North Country, The Panhandler, Spiky Palm and the Texas Lawyer. When he is not restlessly writing, Larsen practices law including defending First Amendment rights. He was honored in 2010 by the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas with its James Madison Award.
