A lyricist at heart, McGriff is a masterful maker of metaphor.--Third
Coast
There is majestic beauty in these descriptions, and it is clear that
McGriff honors this place as a place--not as mere setting, but as a
distinct element of his verse.--Gently Read Literature
Michael McGriff's second full-length collection explores interior
landscapes and illustrates life in a rural community in the Pacific
Northwest. Whether tender or hard-hitting, McGriff juxtaposes natural
images of deep forests, creeks, coyotes, and crows against the harsher
oil-grease realities of blue-collar life, creating poems that read like
folk tales about the people working in grain mills, forests, and
factories.
New Civilian
The new law says you can abandon your child
in an emergency room,
no questions asked. The young father
carries the sleeping boy
through the hospital doors.
Later, alone, parked at the boat basin,
he takes a knife from his pocket,
cuts an unfiltered cigarette in two,
lights the longer half in his mouth.
He was a medic in the war.
In his basement are five bronze eagles
that once adorned the walls
of a dictator's palace.
Michael McGriff attended the University of Oregon; the University of
Texas at Austin, where he was a Michener Fellow in creative writing; and
Stanford University, where he was a Stegner Fellow. He is the
co-founding editor and publisher of Tavern Books and lives in Salt Lake
City, Utah.
