Abide. Poems by Ellen Birkett Morris, selected by Ron Mohring as Number Three in Volume Nine of our Summer Kitchen Chapbook Series.

Release date:  October 31, 2021 [49 copies]
25 pages
$ 9.00

Cover image: vintage pieced quilt, cotton, Stacked Coins pattern. 

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Ellen Birkett Morris is the author of Surrender, a poetry chapbook, and Lost Girls, a short story collection. Her poetry has appeared in The Clackamas Literary Review, Juked, Gastronomica, and Inscape, among other journals. Morris won top prize in the 2008 Binnacle Ultra-Short Edition and was a finalist for the 2019 and 2020 Rita Dove Poetry Prize. 

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Broken Vessels

It is true we love
Because of imperfections
Not in spite of them.

Your mother’s hand wrapped around
The chipped milk glass mug,
Knuckles swollen with arthritis.

Her shirt stained with tomato, 
Bitter sauce cooked with care
Just for you.

Bent pages of her book—
A note in the margins
What are my dreams?

The worn spot in the kitchen floor
Where your parents danced,
His chin resting on her head.

Nothing is untouched by time or wear.
Each smudge or crack reveals
A certain grace.  

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Our thanks to The Binnacle for first publishing this poem.

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Limited edition: only 24 copies available. Order yours here!