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Carolynn Kingyens was born and raised in Northeast Philadelphia. She grew up in a row home, the youngest of seven children. Her poems have been featured in Boxcar Poetry Journal, The Potomac, Glass: Journal of Poetry, The Orange Room Review, Red Eft Review, Across the Margin, Eunoia Review, Tuck Magazine, Schuylkill Valley Journal, Haggard & Halloo, and Word Riot. She was nominated for Best New Poets by Silenced Press. Carolynn often draws inspiration from the Earnest Hemmingway quote: All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know. Her latest collection is Before the Big Bang Makes a Sound.

The Abyss

Once on the A Train

an old woman

with milky eyes

stared at me for too long;

and I remembered

Nietzsche’s warning:

And when you gaze long

into an abyss, the abyss

gazes also into you.

So I said an inward prayer,

and did not look back

when I got off at West 4th St.

In New York,

we have salves, oils,

candles and trinkets –

a cure-all for bad vibes,

the evil eye,

generational curses.

In the Bronx –

La Santa Muerte.

Today, I will meditate

on Muhammad –

the kind bodega owner

who calls Lucy,

his sweet tabby,

up from the dark cellar,

where she’s been sleeping

or killing,

so my daughters

can pet her;

so my daughters

can smile.

Tomorrow, I will open

my eyes in anticipation

of a new morning.

I will turn and marvel

at your eclipsed soul-body

still sleeping

— Carolynn Kingyens

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