Issue 2.1
Winter 2022
Morgan Grayce Willow
Reflection
What I enjoy about writing ekphrastic poems is the dialogue between image and language. Finding the right word to match the effect a visual piece has on me is a challenge, since my visual brain resists the effort to whittle the experience down into language. Yet, I am usually pleased by the surprises that erupt from the attempt. “Fenestration” is one of these.
Fenestration
Window to the self.
A hieroglyphic
of DNA. Nerve endings.
Sound bites of language.
The branchings and turnings
of memory, thought
and daydream.
What is the image in the mirror
but a glimpse
at one of nature’s forms
coddled and harangued by turns
through the years?
When I count
rings of growth,
I always lose track.
Where does one nerve end
and the other begin?
How does a single leaf
contribute to the shadow
of the whole tree?
Who can decipher this passing
from inner to outer,
and back again to reflection?
Morgan Grayce Willow has published three poetry collections, most recently Dodge & Scramble, as well as several chapbooks, including the fine press limited edition Oddly Enough. She received a Pushcart nomination for her essay “(Un)Document(ing)” published in Water~Stone Review #22. Morgan has also exhibited her artist’s book Collage for Mina Loy at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.
Morgan's Book Recommendations
Hotel Almighty by Sarah J. Sloat. Sarabande Books. Erasure poems made from pages of a Stephen King novel. Delicious and unexpected.
Glyph: Graphic Poetry = Trans. Sensory by Naoko Fujimoto. Tupelo Press. Intriguing interplay between image & language.
The Receiving Quilt by Elissa Ann Cottle. Shipwreckt Books: Up On Big Rock Poetry Series. These poems have the texture of a sturdy, well-worn quilt. The collection was published just before her untimely passing in October, 2021.
Worldly Things by Michael Kleber-Diggs. Milkweed Editions. Poems that refuse to let hard truth destroy love.
We’re the Flownover. We Come From Flyoverland by Matt Mauch. Gold Wake Press. If ever there were a wizard of the imaginative turn, it would be Matt Mauch. These poems lift.