Poetry by Lyndsie Conklin

Judith Jackson CC




NAIVE GARDENS OR VERITAS IS DRESSED IN LILACS

I cannot be convinced that a vacuum store 
isn’t a front for something I don’t understand.

Your concrete nature illustrates how the house
turned crematorium is a Victorian beaut,

how the structure of it is hand-carved 
into the molding; a dying art form 

you admire but lack the tools to recreate. 
We both burst with a unique-hued light 

bottled with a fizzied aftertaste, 
glows brighter when passions float 

to the surface of everyday conversation.
You can tell me your conspiracy theories, 

those thoughts you keep to yourself 
and I’ll ramble off dream theory facts

or why certain storefronts scare me. 
We can pick the next pet store beta fish,

who can control the weather:
I believe it’s the white one keeping the snow 

from our December existence. 
But you know it’s a blue one 

with a fucked-up fin because trauma 
gives most things their magic. 

Let’s spread glitter seeds out the car window 
while our microwaved breakfast is on our lap,

we should be starved after talking all night. 
I want Christmas lights wrapped 

around the perimeter of our property line, 
then we could see purple before every sunrise

because we’ve already seen the upside 
of foraging our divisive, alluring truth. 

This reality may be full of lies and garden rot
but at least we know the smell of flowers.  




Described as a “wide-range” poet, Lyndsie Conklin (she/her) uses traditional and experimental poetic forms and erotica to explore the gross/beautiful topics of existence, including mental health, sexual expression, queer issues, and women’s rights. When not writing or addictively searching for submission calls on Instagram, Lyndsie can be found consuming all the movies, hitting a biking/hiking trail with her husband, being a crazy cat mom, museum musing, joyfully screaming at sex facts or poems, and finding a home for her first poetry collection, Pole Dancing on a Double Helix. Some of her pieces have been featured in Drip Lit, Twenty Bellows, Pile Press, and Beyond the Veil Press. Follow her on Instagram/Threads @lc_poetics or Bluesky @lc-poetics.bsky.social. 
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