SHUTTA CRUM

SUMMER ISSUE #13 FEATURED POET

Shutta Crum is a Robinson Jeffers Tor House Foundation honoree poet (2024). Her poems have appeared in many journals in several countries including West Trade, Acumen, Calyx, Palette Poetry, and Boulevard. A Pushcart nominee, she is the recipient of 9 Royal Palm Literary Awards (FL). Her chapbook, When You Get Here, won a gold RPLA. Her latest chapbook is Meet Me Out There (Kelsay Books). She publishes the monthly newsletter The Wordsmith’s Playground. Learn more at www.shutta.com.

WHAT’S STOLEN, WHAT REMAINS

we who’ve walked years
alongside the river know what’s stolen
can remember when even the slightest wave
danced with mirrors at our feet

can recall the way perch
and bluegills flashed in the air
or how a blaze of laughter
silvered the water

at first, the thievery was subtle
the optic nerves held hostage
got fed less and less light
became feeble on their wavering stalks

what remains are small eddies of luster
these words between us that school like minnows
that touch, spark, find their way by feel
it is how we light the shallows

THE LANGUAGE OF RIVERS

Moonspill, that ageless shaman,
has drawn hieroglyphs
on the surface of the water.

It brings me here tonight
where each ripple, each curve and lift
of silver lapping is riverspeak.

It’s a language that celebrates wavelets
like tiny birds who crest, break away,
drift down river valleys.