Bio
Lara Frankena is a Midwesterner by birth and a Londoner by chance. Her poems have appeared in publications such as Free State Review, Unbroken and Midwestern Gothic.
Lara Frankena
Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime
I am standing at the end of the carriage when an ex boards the train. I spread the paperback in
front of my face and hope that Kant conceals me.
Between East Broadway and Delancey a man repeatedly shouts, Maria Solanas of 167 East
Seventeenth is a drug addict and a whore! pumping his fist in the air to punctuate each
accusation. Someone asks him to pipe down and a scuffle ensues. I can't concentrate on Kant.
The skull-splitting horn reverberates in the tunnel as I cover my ears and cringe. The driver
announces that the sleeper on the tracks won't wake up, so we're stuck. I give up on Kant.