Going With the GRAIN

Thanks a million to Grain: The Journal of Eclectic Writing for including my poem, "First Egg," in their newest issue. Here's the poem: 

First Egg

Ghostly in the coop's half-light,

pale and almost phosphorescent green,

perched upright in aspen shavings.

The pullet who laid it already 

bathing in dust or scratching up ants.

To gather its small wholeness feels

like a theft but also a tenderness,

close as I'll ever get to sharing

a daughter's first time--handing off

thick pads, hot water bottle, the ache

of knowing this will be

the new regime, tidal rhythm

of ripening and release, her very self

swept along and shackled to a purpose. 

And here's Artemesia (aka Meemee) who inspired it. She's no longer with us, but I'll always remember her, and the thrill of checking the nesting box and finding that very first egg.