Issue: Griffel #18
January by Laura Van Vorst
She came of age among toys in labelled boxesand books arranged by author;
now she is the missing puzzle piece dropped between couch cushionslonging for her wooden homespace shaped just for her.… Read More “January by Laura Van Vorst”
By the Tracks Where I Once Saw Sandhill Cranes by Susan Niz
Grief is no inventory of images.It’s… Read More “By the Tracks Where I Once Saw Sandhill Cranes by Susan Niz”
A Symphony of Sorts by Dina Sokal
I listened to the chattering of birds, a symphony of sorts, while sitting on the back porch of our farmhouse in Maryland.… Read More “A Symphony of Sorts by Dina Sokal”
Hunter Gatherer by John C. Williams
The forest is a garden if you know how to see.… Read More “Hunter Gatherer by John C. Williams”
Mild by Collin O’Connor
Rows of parallel books,bound in untarnished leather,and lightly straightened.… Read More “Mild by Collin O’Connor”
Salt is Salt by Alice Lowe
Good Salt
In an episode of the British TV series Foyle’s War, a plastic surgeon treats soldiers’ burn wounds by bathing them in salt water, having found that badly burned pilots who had landed in sea water recovered more quickly than burn victims on land.… Read More “Salt is Salt by Alice Lowe”
Body Rubble by Lauren Grant
A caesarean section cuts through seven layers of skin, muscle, and tissue.… Read More “Body Rubble by Lauren Grant”
Water Years by Elizabeth Gunn
upturned sterns, rust-rotted
barrels, fishery-bred
trout still swimming
in circles though freed
into Lake Mead –
down the way we toss popcorn
to wide-mouthed carp,
their mossy-green skin flipping
and slipping over surface
tension alongside the floating
dock mercifully pitching
here and there in the searing desert
night-break –
as if we could breathe and be
twin-like with the tiniest bend
of light, nourishing sea creatures
who cannot fully know the sea
nor the raw taste of rain nor see
why spawning begins in autumn –
and we cannot altogether
know love because it is born
of suffering amid astonishing
chaos – yet here we all are –
recognizing our way in this bestirring
and splendorous place where
love tugs at shared boundlessness
House or Home by Sarah Crockford
The garage sale the day we left was a blur,
childish haze clouds judgment, you say,
and so this memory molds to your better liking
something about sharing with others what’s easy to keep,
but not so easy to take.… Read More “House or Home by Sarah Crockford”
The First Prize by David Larsen
Abel Oates tossed his crumpled corduroy jacket onto the heap of brightly-hued sweaters, scarves, and windbreakers that festooned the stiff, straight back of the godawful blue, pine chair just inside the front door of the house he shared with his patient, long-suffering wife, Lois.… Read More “The First Prize by David Larsen”
The Democracy of Memory by Yvonne Morris
We rode a train one-way to the ragged Atlantic,
honeymooning in February—shivered on wintry
sand.… Read More “The Democracy of Memory by Yvonne Morris”