In that painting where Ophelia half-floats on her accidental stream (like the stream of consciousness perhaps buffeting along–not a hurling
but a push with some muscle in it). Flowers bestowed on her lightly. That dark water, the dark light, the spirit that surrounds
her body with its own wills. Her mouth a little open. A shine on her eyes and teeth. Six Acre Meadow. 1851-52. John Everett
Millais on the bank of the river, sheltering in his windy hut. Poppies. A chain of violets. The pooling of his dark oils. Auburn-haired
in an old court dress–the model reclining in a warm bath. Close observation. The woman lay in bed coming in and out of her voice, not
confused but delayed. Not a person but a landscape. Still singing.
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Susan Grimm has been published in Sugar House Review, The Cincinnati Review, South Dakota Review, and Field. She has had two chapbooks published. In 2004, BkMk Press published Lake Erie Blue, a full-length collection. In 2022, she received her third Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Gran
