Read Excerpts from The Chaffin Journal

Poetry

He collected
beach glass—opaque green and white pebbles,
transparent cobalt or sepia chips
scoured smooth by sand.
Carried them in jackets and
pants pockets.

When he’s recovered whole handfuls,
he gave them to her, and she sewed them
into fabric rounds, tied them shut
with string or ribbon

likeChinesedumplings,
Italian ravioli, polish pierogi

the varied but similar edible
concoctions of cultures,
these, not
for consumption.

Small lumpen purses
to hold
in the palm of his hand,
like words on the tongue,

as if she were trying
to tell him what she understood
of the size and shifting shape of the fitful heart.