Synkroniciti is happy to welcome back poet and writer Jim Landwehr of Wisconsin with “The Big Sleep,” a poem about the demonization of empathy and kindness in modern American culture and public life. “We’ve been called woke/ like it’s better to sleep/ in ignorance/ in monoculturism/ in exclusion…” How have we arrived at a repudiation of the values that many of us grew up working toward? The American dream of Emma Lazarus’s “The New Colossus” is no longer valid. One of the functions of poetry is to act as conscience for society, to question and speak truth to power. Jim doesn’t give us grandiose language and exhortation. He simply asks the hard question: what will our collective decision (or indecision) cost?
Read “The Big Sleep” in Synkroniciti’s “Dreams” issue, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Jim Landwehr is a mostly retired author, poet, and pretty decent fisherman. He was a solid B student in high school, whatever that gets a person in life. He lives in southeast Wisconsin among other people of good sensibility, sturdy demeanor and cynical caution toward fads and trends coming from both coasts. His aspirations toward fame and fortune are up against the ticking clock, but he forges ahead nonetheless. He’s just happy to still be here.