this stranger turned neighbour turned
friend points out antelope brush and grey
sage unwavering in summer heat
spear grass pierces our skin
as we wade through lamb’s quarters
pulsing the want of seeds
through tufted vetch and shepherd’s
purse capped with rounded clusters
while red-tailed hawks scratch the clouds
into the valley marked by bloodlines
where dreams were swallowed whole
we skirt ponds that give life
to horned grebes, wigeons, and buffleheads
spot a lone merganser and a common loon
too early for blue heron to break
the glazed surface
si’ulq, her mother would say pānī, my mother would say
Announcing the winners of the 2021 Grouse Grind Lit Prize for V. Short Forms!
Home > PRISM Online > Announcing the winners of the 2021 Grouse Grind Lit Prize for V. Short Forms!
After reading through almost 300 pieces, the PRISM editorial team has chosen our top three winners of the Grouse Grind Prize for V. Short Forms.
A huge congrats to Suzannah, Moni, and Delani!
Grand Prize “Most Nights” by Suzannah Showler
Suzannah Showler is the author of two collections of poetry and a book of cultural criticism about
The Bachelor. Currently living on the unceded territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation, she writes for magazines and does contingent labour teaching creative writing classes at the University of Ottawa. “Most Nights” is the antecedent of
skirting the margins,
Moni Brar is a settler on Treaty 7 land and the land of the Syilx of the Okanagan Nation. She is a Punjabi, Sikh Canadian writer exploring diasporan guilt, identity, intergenerational trauma, and the possibility of healing through literature. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in
Hart House Review, Rogue Agent,
Existere,
image: Dorothy Chan