Flowers on a Train

Flowers on a Train traverses a natural world both real and imagined, where we hunger for something beyond the boundaries of loss. Rich in crisp, lush imagery and filled with family, food, art, and music, the poems take us to local and far away places. Walking the neighborhood before surgery, we encounter a talking tree, hiking in a Sierra storm, the skies appear as a white bird, and listening to a New York jazz combo, we time-travel to Paris in the 20s. In the end, Benjamin shows us that through memory, forgiveness, and reconciliation, we can navigate what's broken.

Laurel Benjamin is a San Francisco Bay Area poet, active with the Women's Poetry Salon. She is the curator of Ekphrastic Writers and is a reader for Common Ground Review. Journal publications include: Lily Poetry Review, Pirene's Fountain, Cider Press Review, Taos Journal of Poetry, Mom Egg Review, Ekphrastic Review, Nixes Mate, West Trestle Review, Of the Book Literary Magazine, Deronda Review, Gone Lawn, Minyan Magazine, Eunoia Review, Moon City Review, LIT Magazine, and Rise Up Review, where her work has been recognized. Her work has also been anthologized in Women in a Golden State (2025); The Nature of Our Times: Poems on America's Land, Waters, Wildlife, and Other Natural Wonders (2025); and Turning a Train of Thought Upside Down: An Anthology of Women's Poetry (2006). She received Honorable Mention for the Ruben Rose Memorial Poetry Competition, was a finalist for the Cider Press Review Book Award, and received Honorable Mention with Small Harbor Publishing. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Laurel holds an MFA from Mills College. She is a former temp worker, children's book buyer, and community college English instructor. She invented a secret language with her brother.