Susan Isla Tepper has a new Novel out titled “Hair of a Fallen Angel” from Spuyten Duyvil Books, NYC. A twenty-year writer, she authored 12 published books of fiction and poetry and 5 Stage Plays. Honors include 21 Pushcart Prize Nominations, a win in the Francis Ford Copolla Zoetrope Contest for the Novel (2003), Second Place Winner in Story/South Million Writers Award and many more awards. Her play ‘The Crooked Heart’ concerning artist Jackson Pollock premiered on October 25, 2022, at the Irish Repertory Theatre in NYC. Adapted from an earlier novel, it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Susan is a Brand Ambassador for The Galway Review. A YouTube music video for her new novel: https://youtu.be/W2HVIc4NrqY
ENDLESS
By Susan Isla Tepper
The wet dawn
a struggle to make the hill
from weeks of walking
His lather—
crusted-over eyes
the short sleeps only
to force up, continue on.
All here was vast,
Endless—
as he recalled.
Puffing to reach the top
of the rise
he spotted the stone house
still a fair distance
the chimney smoke barely visible
A good sign, that smoke;
all in all a good sign.
This early hour
she’d be inside
dampening her hair
from the basin
knotting it tight at the neck.
How to explain the long absence;
months trickling to years.
Surely by now a new man
in charge— of her and the premises.
Squatting, he watched.
When at last the door opened
she came out alone to pitch the hay
lithe, still, under a dress
she swung that fork mightily.
This stirred him—
knees folding into high grass
contemplating what
brought a return to these parts.
Unable to answer,
if only to himself.
Some time close to noon
turning once to gaze back,
the clouds thinning out, stretching
smeared the painted sky.
Glenn Bowie is a published poet, lyricist, and photographer from the Boston area. He also owns and operates an elevator company that supplies custom-built elevators for clients from New England to Hollywood. Author of two poetry and photograph collections (Under the Weight of Whispers and Into the Thorns and Honey) on Big Table Publishing, he donates all profits from his books to various charities for the homeless and local animal shelters.
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