• Kathryn Gahl’s favorite things (besides words) are cooking, humor, Feldenkrais, open minds, red lipstick, and dancing mad hot ballroom. Her awards include The Hal Prize for fiction and poetry. Her books include Messengers of the Gods (Cornerstone Press, 2022) and The Velocity of Love (Water’s Edge Press, 2020), which received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library Association. “Bluebird” is from The Yellow Toothbrush: A Memoir, forthcoming from Two Shrews Press. 

Magazine Article

Bluebird

My daughter in prison plays the piano.She plays from memory, eyes closed,her heart a violin stringing alongas piano notes fall like raindropssoft while cedar trees... Read more.
Magazine Article

Sister

My sister doesn’t do sad.She tried it on a few times,   different styles, different sizes—   nothing quite fit. Either too loudor too dark, too tight or... Read more.
Magazine Article

The Dying Farmer

Act I Put me where I am usefuljust beneath the topsoilhalf-inch down of warmthand wet loam in my handspitch me a shovel or rakelet me get up when the sunsplits land... Read more.
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Stones

I was sweating and drooling. It was April. I had almost made it through fifth grade. And now I was leaving the planet. Permanently. Until I heard, “Abigail, honey.... Read more.
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Heaven

  At sixteen, the good kissrelied on pitch-black darknessduring the seventeen-mile ride to our dairy farmafter we won the basketball gameand my point-guard boy... Read more.
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Miles

Foggy water. Watery fog. It enveloped the Alaskan ferry until the boat’s Chief Engineer, Miles Gopon, saw more than fog. He saw sheets of lace. Pink lace. Panties.... Read more.