STIRRING
Founded in 1999, Stirring is one of the oldest continuously publishing journals on the internet.
Stirring is an electronic quarterly journal.
Founded in 1999, Stirring is one of the oldest continuously publishing journals on the internet.
Stirring is an electronic quarterly journal.
CLAIRE DENSON
University of North Carolina, Greensboro
I saw a treadmill in the grass
when I passed on the train
the morning after we saw
the two baby deer scuttling
in the street and then a larger deer
dead. You said you once stared
at your dad’s pearl-handled
pistol, turned it over and over
in your palm. When I said
my hands get sad, that they
get so sad the feeling travels
up and I can’t move, you lifted
my arms in the shower one
by one tender as a mother
and I swear every single time I have
an emotion I forget about the world
before it. Listen. When we saw
the fawns running in circles
you promised they were happy
to be free; I tried
to memorize your hands
on the steering wheel. Because
at night when I hold on harder
than I’d like to admit, you don’t
flinch, just rub your thumb
against my fist and tell me
that sure maybe you’ll die
soon but probably not
and that it helps to remind myself
always keep looking at my feet.
Claire Denson is a 2020 graduate of the MFA Writing Program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and holds a BA from the University of Michigan. Claire is soon to be a staff poetry reader at The Adroit Journal and her poems have appeared in Hobart, Crab Fat Magazine, and Hooligan Magazine, along with a poetry book review in The Lit Pub. You can find her on Twitter @shmaireshmen.
