Monday 26 February 2018

Cleave

by Grace Marie Grafton


Afternoon ends. Sun’s heat
has transformed, in the humidity,
into damp touch.
Thought stops. 
    Just breath now
and the blessed halo that sprinkler’s dervish
breaks over children’s skin. 
 I, the mother,
dip my hair right in. Rescue
of clear drops. 
   Lie on wet grass,
let my children pluck laughter from me.
How else teach them the idiom
that will save them
          as they grow
into knowledge that cleaves into shards
the beautiful ceramic world?


* * * * *

"Cleave" was first published in California Quarterly.


Grace Marie Grafton’s most recent book, Jester, was published by Hip Pocket Press. Six collections of her poetry have been published.  Her poems won first prize in the Soul Making contest (PEN women, San Francisco), in the annual Bellingham Review contest, and The National Women's Book Association, Honorable Mention from Anderbo and Sycamore Review, and have twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Ms. Grafton has taught for decades with CA Poets in the Schools, and has been awarded twelve CA Arts Council grants for her teaching programs. Recent poems appear in Sin Fronteras, The Cortland Review, Canary, CA Quarterly, Askew, Fifth Wednesday Journal, Basalt and Mezzo Cammin.

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