POETRY
Randi Ward is a writer, translator,
lyricist and photographer from Belleville, West Virginia. She earned her MA in Cultural Studies from the University of the Faroe Islands and is a recipient of the American-Scandinavian Foundation’s Nadia Christensen Prize. Ward is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee whose work has appeared in the Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Vencil: Anthology of Contemporary Faroese Literature, World Literature Today and other publications. MadHat Press will release Ward’s forthcoming poetry collection, Whipstitches, this spring. For more information, visit www.randiward.com/about.
listen Photography by Randi Ward
The Village
The children sang and hid among these rocks. They took turns courting the dangerous edge where angelica was sweetest and stood tall against the storm and snarling sea before bending in the fall. They’d watched the boats row out from the landing. They waved and laughed among these mossy rocks, unknowing that the evening would not see the fishermen returning with the rain.
listen 36 | fluent
Cast from our memories of tear-chapped cheeks, their solemn faces blister with cold rain in the park where they stand for the village. They always stare longingly at the sea.