Philly Poetry Chapbook Review is pleased to feature Richard Jordan’s poem “Offering” as our second featured chapbook poem of Issue 11: Winter 2026. You can find more poetry in his chapbook, Spotting the Rise, from Rockwood Press.
Offering
Such a pure sound, the bubbling of Mill River
into the trout pool this late-August morning,
where we once sprinkled Toby Harper’s ashes—
Harpo, who drowned in the cold, swift current
downstream. He was sixteen. Probably
drunk or stoned. That’s the way we spent
our summers back then. I’m here to light
a candle in remembrance, release it
on a strip of bark toward the falls.
If later there are rise rings I might cast
a caddis fly or streamer. An osprey passes
overhead. I’m here for that, as well—
the way at first its cry appears to swell
from nothingness until I finally locate
the bird beneath whatever clouds are drifting
high up there. I bend and strike a match,
look skyward again. The osprey’s now a speck,
its call softer than the river’s flow.
(This poem was first published by Southern Poetry Review. It is reprinted here with the author’s permission.)
About the Poem
‘Offering’ explores grief and ritual through water imagery—the ‘pure sound’ of the river contrasts with Harper’s tragic drowning. The floating candle becomes an offering to memory, while the osprey’s cry ‘swelling from nothingness’ mirrors how the dead emerge unexpectedly in memory. The speaker’s potential to cast a fly suggests life continuing alongside loss, the river flowing indifferently yet also holding space for remembrance and presence. In my mind, the narrator recognizes that Harper’s fate could very well have been his own, and I hope that readers can relate, in the sense that we all have done reckless things, especially in our youth, and, as the saying goes, ‘But for the grace…’ And that understanding has a lot to do with him returning to the river to enact this ritual.
Author Bio
Richard Jordan’s poems have appeared in Gargoyle Magazine, Southern Poetry Review, DMQ Review, Rattle, Tar River Poetry, New York Quarterly and elsewhere. His chapbook, The Squannacook at Dawn, won first place in the 2023 Poetry Box Chapbook Contest. His new poetry chapbook, Spotting the Rise, is available through Rockwood Press. He is an Associate Editor for Thimble Literary Magazine.
From Spotting the Rise
“It may not be possible to understand post-industrial New England without reading Richard Jordan. “Rainbows” in this book are both promises and trout. Hornpout, a kind of catfish, caught at Willard Pond, are full of tannery chemicals and toxic. You need a loving father to tell you that, and many of these poems are about the way good men parent their sons. There’s natural beauty here, but mortality, the end of a fishing trip with a dying friend, the Vietnam War—these things also hover. This is a fine collection from a wise poet, a soothing, necessary read.” —Christine Potter, author of Unforgetting, poetry editor of Eclectica
Available from: Rockwood Press
Contents
“Managing [my husband’s] pain became fraught in the last week of his life when he could no longer swallow the medications that had kept him comfortable…The poem explores the vulnerability and intimacy found in such a crisis.” Read five poems by Amy Riddell, our first biweekly poet of the Winter 2026 issue, along with a few words about “Reading the Body.”
Chapbook Poem: Aphasia by Robert Allen
“Ultimately this is a poem of love and recognition, of finding the right words for the right listener, to the one who listens and understands.” Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for January 2026, “Aphasia,” along with a few words from the poet.
Book Excerpt: The Egg of Anything by Paula Bohince
“The poem is filled with moments of ‘O’ sounds and ‘Ah’ sounds, mimicking the O of the egg and the Ah of the open jaw. I like that the poem is compact in its little form, also a bit egg-like.” Read the featured Excerpt Poem of the Month for January 2026, “The Egg of Anything” from A Violence by Paula Bohince, along with a few words from the poet.
Three Poems by Abraham Aondoana
“Instead of providing any solution to the issue, the poem is ready to be open to the ambiguity that can enable doubt, tenderness, and resilience to co-exist. By so doing, it points to survival not as victory, but as endurance…” Read three poems by Abraham Aondoana, our second biweekly poet of the Winter 2026 issue, along with a few words about “Surviving a Country That is Also a Question.”
Five Poems by Colleen S. Harris
“I am always struck by the juxtaposition of the biology and science of illness versus the life of the person living with it, and how those two spheres constantly interrupt and flow into each other.” Read five poems by Colleen S. Harris, our third biweekly poet of the Winter 2026 issue, along with a few words about “Inflammation As Girl.”
Chapbook Poem: Offering by Richard Jordan
“In my mind, the narrator recognizes that Harper’s fate could very well have been his own, and I hope that readers can relate, in the sense that we all have done reckless things, especially in our youth…” Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for February 2026, “Offering,” along with a few words from the poet.
Book Excerpt: Passage by Paul Hostovsky
“When she’d call me on the weekends, I was high half the time, impatient with her, and unforthcoming. It’s one of my greatest regrets. The tears well up just thinking about it. I didn’t grieve her properly. I’m grieving her now.” Read the featured Excerpt Poem of the Month for February 2026, “Passage” from Perfect Disappearances by Paul Hostovsky, along with a few words from the poet.
“The poem captures us both there in the dreaded check up appointment: me clenching crinkling paper, scared of what the lab reports say; him…lab reports in hand like some mysterious document…” Read three poems by Mary Whitlow, our fourth biweekly poet of the Winter 2026 issue, along with a few words about “Examined.”