Peter Grandbois
SOMETIMES WE SPEAK TO OURSELVES
in dead things other times we fit
too many bodies into the meadow
where the elk whistle and stamp it’s strange
this book of burning leaves
where snow sometimes settles inside
like prayer other times you walk
a thousand lost roads hammered by rain
while the moon interrogates the night sky
in one sorrowful frenzy of longing
stars reminding us we can
do the hard things now it’s easy
to carry the abraded blanket
to the river’s edge the days
are forever letting go and
we are not here to explain
a thing but simply to choose
the rumor of the sea this
animal slowness of life
Peter Grandbois is the author of fourteen books, the most recent of which is Domestic Bestiary. His plays have been performed in St. Louis, Columbus, Los Angeles, and New York. He is poetry editor at Boulevard and teaches at Denison University in Ohio. You can find him at www.petergrandbois.com.
Cover image by Jen Mathy
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