Peter Grandbois
All stories begin in the forest
After Rumi
Darkness curling back on itself
like the blazing bark of a tree
The soft sound of words falling
Through wind-heaved evening
One hears but does not see
The owl’s cry like a memory,
The cracked cauldron of a wasp nest
Patinaed by threads of dusk
What is a life but a waking
from the spirit’s throat
What is a body but
The glassblower’s breath
Peter Grandbois reads “All stories begin in the forest”
Peter Grandbois is the author of thirteen books, the most recent of which is the Snyder prize-winning, Last Night I Aged a Hundred Years (Ashland Poetry Press 2021). His poems, stories, and essays have appeared in over one hundred and fifty journals. His plays have been nominated for several New York Innovative Theatre Awards and have been performed in St. Louis, Columbus, Los Angeles, and New York. He is poetry editor at Boulevard magazine and teaches at Denison University in Ohio. You can find him at www.petergrandbois.com