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.
PETER GRANDBOIS
Sometimes, I hear my face
gathering mud and stone
People wait for me to speak
to stretch my way out of this dream
I walk naked about the house
after dark, foraging for words,
Stepping into and out of my body,
one way of measuring the hour
The bucket hovers over the surface,
banging against the well-wall
Silent water, silt-heavy,
swollen with memory and sleep
I leave the lights off on purpose
to listen to the loose ends of night
Thousands of feet below, drop by
drop, the water erases the rock
How obvious it seems to me now—
this longing for nothingness,
this nothingness of voice.
Peter Grandbois is the author of twelve books, the most recent of which is Everything Has Become Birds (Brighthorse 2020). His poems, stories, and essays have appeared in over one hundred 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.
