a literary journal published by the Black Earth Institute dedicated to re-forging the links between art and spirit, earth and society
The tilted houses on the bay
are like waves
even the land curves and rises
Windows black and boarded
as if night is inside outside
sun through clouds turns
the sky white
I look at the houses every day
and remember
standing alone on the dune
and out on the flats below
where it felt like a secret
country beneath my feet
revealed twice a day
Walking so far out
to a place where I might
drown at another time
water a vault overhead
but in those hours
was held back.
a river that cascades rises
Rises as if pulled up by the sky
a sky trophy even you believe
You believe you are caught in a spell
spelled, roped by a god
Hair a rope, cursed in a white dress
addressing the clouds white with your eyes
Eyes locked caught in the river, barefoot
bare cinnamon dirt, pebbles, mountains
Mountains exhale a blue body
a blue body I see every day
Every day the lungs of a blue diver with five wings
with five starfish wings you are not caught
Not caught: summoning, palms open you are a meridian
a meridian calling the Sun a rubythroat honey eater
Honeyguide it shall be done unto you the stars
the stars all the out-of-sight islands sing to you.
Kelle Groom is the author of four poetry collections, Underwater City (University Press of Florida), Luckily, Five Kingdoms, and Spill (Anhinga Press); a memoir, I Wore the Ocean in the Shape of a Girl (Simon & Schuster), a Barnes & Noble Discover selection and New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice; and most recently, How to Live: A Memoir in Essays (Tupelo Press). An NEA Fellow, Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellow, and recipient of two Florida Book Awards in poetry, Groom’s work has previously appeared in About Place, AGNI, American Poetry Review, Best American Poetry, The New Yorker, New York Times, Ploughshares, and Poetry.
©2025 Black Earth Institute. All rights reserved. | ISSN# 2327-784X | Site Admin