Orant

Derek Gromadzki

Hang  a hand on heaven’s edge

and   plod

away    away  into  duration

 if   ever  a  cleft   in  millennia

ever  deeper  than  did plummet

sound

a  cry   so  soon obeyed

as  soon  forgotten

cause  forgiveness   and  we  slow

rows  of  remembrance  march

Derek Gromadzki is an MFA and PhD student at the University of Iowa. His most recent work has appeared in Black Warrior Review, The Brooklyner, Cavalier Literary Couture, and CutBank, and is forthcoming in Midway, The Journal, American Letters & Commentary, and other publications.

“My fondest porch memories are from the summers I used to spend on my grandparents’ farm. The front porch of the farmhouse gave right onto an apple orchard. I remember collecting all the ripest apples I could find and sitting for hours, eating them and staring off into the trees.”