‘Lesser phenomena’ by Lana Crossman

The World is Too Quiet
by Rebecca Ledbetter

Lesser phenomena

Maybe I shouldn’t have texted you that night:
Have you seen the sky?

We were pretty much past “us”
but I knew you wouldn’t want to miss

nature’s laser show on a January night.
It’s the Northern Lights! you replied.

Later, I learned it was only ice pillars,
frozen crystals caught in artificial light.

But, don’t worry, I’m not upset.
It wasn’t what we thought it could be,

but for just a moment
             it glimmered.


Lana Crossman lives in Ottawa, Ontario where the weather is extreme and is the starter for every conversation. Her poetry has been published in FEED, The Light Ekphrastic, Bywords, and Apt613. She recently won Carleton University’s Lilian I. Found Award for Poetry (2020), and was on the shortlist for the John Newlove Poetry Award (2018).


Rebecca Ledbetter is a poet and artist who seeks to understand the relationships and interactions we experience every day, and how those connections shape us. Sometimes dreamy, sometimes more serious, she writes the words in a poem in a carefully curated way, much the same way a painter brushes strokes onto a canvas. She received her BA in Communications and Studio Art from Denison University in 2013, and since then has showcased work in Philadelphia, Granville, OH, and Martha’s Vineyard, and currently resides and works in Philadelphia, PA.