Front Porch Review
A literary magazine for the young at heart and mind

A welcome mat lies
flat outside the entrance,
a door you thought revolving
each time you came back
needing, not wanting, to start again.
The ways of the world -- out there --
you deemed psychedelic,
the sensuous temptation, irresistible

said the funky colors seemed to fool you
lure you into a trance beyond reality
where illusions of grandeur sucked you in.
But the door’s now gone
and the welcome mat LIES.
One time too many... too late ‒
on the other side of havoc
you lie prostrate in decay.

By Laurie Kolp

Laurie Kolp,author of Upon the Blue Couch (Winter Goose Publishing, 2014) and Hello, It’s Your Mother (Finishing Line Press, upcoming) serves as president of Texas Gulf Coast Writers and belongs to the Poetry Society of Texas. Laurie’s poems have appeared in more than four dozen publications including the 2015 Poet’s Market, The Crafty Poet, Scissors & Spackle, Blue Fifth Review, Pirene’s Fountain. An avid runner and lover of nature, Laurie lives in Southeast Texas with her husband, three children and two dogs. Her e-mail address: