After René Magritte, Castle in the Pyrenees (1959)
Here I am, alone, atop a boulder—suspended over
cold water. My stone castle has a thousand rooms.
In each room, light angles through a tall glass pane
and illuminates the space in a different way.
Every day, I move my heart to another room—
emptied of all I once accumulated, amassed,
hoarded, prized. Now, nothing but these myriad
qualities of light, these harsh cries of gulls,
these infinite distances of sky.
(Artwork can be found here: https://www.wikiart.org/en/rene-magritte/the-castle-of-the-pyrenees-1959)
Alone
Laura Ann Reed is the author of the chapbook Homage to Kafka (Poetry Box, 2025). Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous journals, as well as in twelve anthologies including Poetry of Presence II (Grayson Books, 2023), World Poetry Day Anthology, (Moonstone Publishing, 2026) and The Wonder of Small Things (Storey Publishing 2023). Reed holds master’s degrees in clinical psychology and performing arts. She lives with her husband, Grant Reed, in the Pacific Northwest. https://lauraannreed.net/