Carly-Anne Ravnikar

Kenosha Poet Laureate, 2018-19

Carly-Anne Ravnikar is a punk artist native to Southeastern Wisconsin. She is an eloquent hoarder of poems and crafts, who struggles to remain within the confines of society. She serves professionally in higher education student services – creatively in print and performance. In 2018, she was selected as a Poet Laureate for Kenosha, Wisconsin. In 2015, dancing girl press published her poetry collection, Housewifery. Other poetry has appeared in Left of the Lake Magazine, A New Beat, The Clockwise Cat, Monkey Puzzle, Outhouse, Straylight Magazine, boo (2010, 2011), Bending Light Into Verse Vol. II, and The New Gnus Literary Journal (2011). She is currently fronting Cheap Sleaze. Her full collection of work can be viewed at Delinquent Mom.

Knit Caps

by Carly-Anne Ravnikar

I kissed your linoleum:
One great hard smack.
A fissure in time.
A roof dancer's dream.
A sea breeze on the shelf.
I sunk heavy into star breath:
One giant fold in my pocket.
A large boom, a soft bucket.
I missed turning into and again:
We've never been weightless.
We've always been leaning.
We bombard and we succumb.
I released the caged lion:
All childless and fleeting.
All movement and striking.
This curve and this magnet.
This linger, this lifeless, and this dangle.
I docked with my rope and my lies:
Into the night, into the dark, into
our cooing and awe-filled dreams.
Into this speckled and into
our nest of blankets unraveled.