These five small thimbles of 19th century 
glass repose in our glazed, Charleston-style 
sideboard; both shedding thin tear-trails of age, 
because glass truly is a liquid, though 
it takes a slightly tilted perspective 
to grasp its flow. 

Holding a cup to the light, I see 
embedded sooty specks. Remnants 
of the 1890s when Cossacks sacked 
Sophie’s town in the Pale of Settlement—
she escaped, to Syracuse, New York. 

To sack and Cossack: first cousins. 

Tante Sophie’s glasses emblazon 
events in our embraced tribe: births, 
weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. 

It took me two days to realize 
seven-year-old Anna had taken one—
to stock her American Girl Doll kitchen. 

Gary Grossman,

Professor Emeritus of Ecology at University of Georgia, has poetry published in 38 literary reviews, creative nonfiction in Tamarind Literary Magazine, and flash fiction and poetry in MacQueen’s Quinterly, which nominated his microfiction “Mindfulness” for the Best Small Fictions 2023 anthology.

For 10 years Gary wrote the “Ask Dr. Trout” column for American Angler. His first poetry book, Lyrical Years, is available from Kelsay Press, and his second, What I Meant to Say Was..., will be released by Impspired Press (~December 2023). His graphic novel My Life in Fish: One Scientist’s Journey is available from: http://www.garygrossman.net/my-life-in-fish-one-scientists-journey/

Author’s website: www.garygrossman.net

And his writing blog: https://garydavidgrossman.medium.com/