The Gift
by Suzanne Verrall
my grandmother gave us
a set of knucklebones
to play with
she said they were
from last night’s
mutton stew
but I’ve seen
the way
she wrings her hands
Suzanne Verrall lives in Adelaide, Australia. Her flash fiction, essays and poetry appear in Atlas and Alice, Flash Frontier, Archer Magazine, Lip
Magazine, Poetry NZ Yearbook, Australian Poetry Journal, and others. www.suzanneverrall.com
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What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “The Gift”? I was thinking about family and generations and sacrifices when I wrote this poem. I almost wish Charles Simic had written it just so I could see
what he would have called it. I envy the way he uses an unexpected title to add an extra dimension to a poem. I’d ask him, but I don’t have his email.
Congrats to Christopher Allen for having a work from HOUSEHOLD TOXINS being chosen to appear in BSF 2019 from Sonder Press.
Check out the write-up of the journal in The Writer.
New titles available from Robert McBrearty and Tori Bond.
Submissions
Poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction/prose poetry submissions are now CLOSED. Check out our new category triptychs! The submission period next opens March 15, 2020; submit here.
Upcoming
01/23 • Maureen Alsop (4 of 12)
01/27 • Abby Manzella
01/29 • Lynn Finger
01/30 • Maureen Alsop (5 of 12)
02/03 • James Ducat
02/05 • Kathleen Hellen
02/06 • Maureen Alsop (6 of 12)
02/10 • Nicole Hebdon
02/12 • Steve Cushman
02/13 • Maureen Alsop (7 of 12)
02/17 • Madison Frazier
02/19 • Gail Geopfert
02/20 • Maureen Alsop (8 of 12)
02/24 • Kenneth Pobo
02/26 • Miranda Campbell
02/27 • Maureen Alsop (9 of 12)
03/04 • John Meyers
03/05 • Maureen Alsop (10 of 12)
03/09 • Grant Faulkner
03/11 • Maureen Alsop
03/12 • Maureen Alsop (11 of 12)
03/16 • Tara Laskowski
03/05 • Maureen Alsop (12 of 12)
03/23 • Kim Chinquee
03/25 • TBD