The Phare
Magazine and writing resources

Metrophobia
-An irrational or disproportionate fear of poetry
Poet: Carolyn Martin
this cannot be right I guessed fear
of cities subways taxi cabs
of bodies pressed to get somewhere
down noisome streets that reek
of chestnuts hot dogs hardhat sweat
of hawkers hawking faux accessories not
of meters and tropes luring mind-waves
to slow heart-waves to swell nor
of What does it mean? posed
by teachers schooled to explicate
fourteen lines in multi-paragraphs
yet when poems proclaim humans
on this wobbly earth have muffed
their cosmic test or stir up hidden
narratives of mothers fathers children friends
the witness they bear might incite
a racing pulse and wildly startled eyes
Carolyn Martin is a lover of gardening and snorkeling, feral cats and backyard birds, writing and photography. Her poems have appeared in more than 175 journals throughout North America, Australia, and the UK. Currently, she is the poetry editor of Kosmos Quarterly: journal for global transformation.