2016 Contest Winner

Old as Rainfall: Nature and People

Heidi Morrell

Old as Rainfall is a collection of lyrical, often sorrowful, poems that show remarkable creativity and courage through the lens of everyday experiences and familiar landscapes.

From Old as Rainfall: Nature and People

New Mom

In the folds of deep night,
I hold you,
sift through my new confusion
and anxiety while you
pull nutrition from my nipple.
Like a demanding sound,
a night bird outside speaks briefly of
some encroachment or celebration.

Now my hands relax as
the dairy smell of skin and lips
drifts into my face.
I leave myself behind a moment,
let something open and bloom,
as the July dawns pads in quietly
with amber and apricot,
and my anguish drifts away.

About the Author

Heidi Morrell

Heidi Morrell lives and writes in Los Angeles. She has been writing since age nine, but started submitting her work to publications only in 2013. Some publications where her work has appeared include East Coast Literary Review; Poised in Flight Anthology; Hurricane Press; Emerging Literary Journal; Poetry Pacific; Rotary Dial; Outside in Literature and Travel Magazine; Tomato Anthology; Mothers Always Write. She has a poetry chapbook, Also as Well, from Finishing Line Press.