Peter Grandbois

THE ECHO OF BODIES

It’s not enough to have 
a voice

Not enough to touch
when we are lost

as a downpour crashing
through pines

Words are not the only
door

Hands are not the only
candles

(What do we do 
when we’ve burned through?)

To lead us far from this
sun-flecked dawn

this book of half-hearted
nights

A vivid dream—
to wake and walk 
upon the path

The owl waits 
The darkness comes

Somewhere there is a field

Peter Grandbois is the author of eleven books, the most recent of which is the poetry collection The Three-Legged World, published as Triptych with books by James McCorkle and Robert Miltner (Etruscan 2020). His work has appeared in over one hundred journals, including The Kenyon Review, The Gettysburg Review, and Prairie Schooner. His plays have been performed in St. Louis, Columbus, Los Angeles, and New York. He is poetry editor at Boulevard magazine and teaches at Denison University in Ohio. You can find him at www.petergrandbois.com.