Philly Poetry Chapbook Review is pleased to present three original poems by poet Adele Ross as our fifth biweekly featured poet of the Winter 2025 issue.
Poems
Heavy Water
For Ale Jorge
Snow falls like paper pulp as we await the opening of the snail sludge bucket
Aimee dips her hand in the gloop – “mucilage” – and it splops at us in challenge
We rehome it with a yogurt cup, waggle the fingers of our jazz hands in the water
We’ve created a whole new texture of liquid & it’s like heavy water –
Do you remember trying to explain it to me? You said That’s just how it is.
We crowd around Aimee like robins hunting worms
Watch her strain the goop from the slop and couch a sheet
Behold: soft yellow in color & texture, traumatized by a finger-touch or stray water droplet,
PAPER made from invasive trees’ skin & held together by chemistry – Someone asked how it worked & all I thought was That’s just how it is.
This morning a white fish dipped down from the sky
In the studio, the milkweed pod I hold flops
and I clasp it tighter before splitting down its seam.
I drop the husk and thumb away brown seed-scales
revealing the silver-white meat of the milkweed:
The fish’s second layer of scales;
those hidden for safekeeping.
Seeds in one cup and fluff in the other.
Water in the fluff bowl to heavy the hairs.
In two days the white will go sick and yellow,
and weaken enough to be pulped.
Then I will strain gold from vomitous water
And flatten it into paper.
Little Ponderosa, On Paper
Boothbay Harbor, ME
I miss the slug I found in my sock after learning the word “frolic”
And the top bunk I demanded because of mom’s snoring
How I tried to eat the wild blueberries before she made them all into pancakes.
The abaca sheet I pull today is the laundry she strung up like flags of surrender
after I took my impromptu swim in the seawater down the hill
I lost my butterfly rain boots to that inlet.
Aimee says our spit cleans our blood so when I dirty my clothes I lick them
And when we’ve piles of precious paper, she tells us:
Don’t hoard, don’t get attached.
About “Heavy Water”
Near the end of my time at Oberlin, a friend with a much more science-oriented brain tried to
explain what “heavy water” was to me. I simply couldn’t grasp why some water molecules had
more hydrogen than others. I remember them saying, “That’s just how it is,” and my reply:
“That’s my favorite science answer.”
I spent January of 2024 learning papermaking from Aimee Lee, a hanji — Korean paper — artist
and writer, an experience I’m so grateful for. The process was daunting and very, very wet.
Aimee was bombarded by questions throughout it all, and we often rabbitholed her into giving
my favorite science answer.
“Heavy Water” suggests fatalism as a way to accept and move with reality rather than succumb
to it. We can and should improve our realities, but we can’t fault ourselves for our smallness. My
hope is that my work illuminates the creative process as a microcosm of this balance.
Author Bio
A poet hailing from Cincinnati, OH, Adele Ross is a recent graduate from Oberlin College, where they studied writing and literature in both English and German. They were an honorable mention for Oberlin’s annual Emma Howell Poetry Prize.
Contents
Book Excerpt: Further Thought by Rae Armantrout
Read the featured Excerpt Poem of the Month for January 2025, “Further Thought” from Go Figure by Rae Armantrout, along with a few words from the poet.
Read five poems by poet A.L. Nielsen, our first biweekly poet of the Winter 2025 issue, along with a few words about the poem “When We Walked”.
Chapbook Poem: The Poem as an Act of Betrayal by Benjamin S. Grossberg
Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for January 2025, “The Poem as an Act of Betrayal” from As Are Right Fit by Benjamin S. Grossberg, along with a few words from the poet.
Jan. ‘25: Year One: What worked, what didn’t, and what to expect
Editor Aiden Hunt looks back at our first year and discusses changes to Philly Poetry Chapbook Review in 2025.
Three Poems by Shelli Rottschafer
Read three poems by poet Shelli Rottschafer, our second biweekly poet of the Winter 2025 issue, along with a few words about the poem “Because We Remember.”
Dancing With the Dead: On Ragnarök at the Father-Daughter Dance by Todd Dillard
“Todd Dillard successfully transgresses the unspoken cultural embargo on work that grapples with life during the COVID-19 pandemic in his new chapbook, Ragnarök at the Father-Daughter Dance.”
Read three poems by poet Wendell Hawken, our third biweekly poet of the Winter 2025 issue, along with a few words about the poem “First Hurt”.
Book Excerpt: Slow Chalk by Elaine Equi
Read the featured Excerpt Poem of the Month for February 2025, “Slow Chalk” from Out of the Blank by Elaine Equi, along with a few words from the poet.
Chapbook Poem: Caro M. by Angela Siew
Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for February 2025, “Caro M.” from Coming Home by Angela Siew, along with a few words from the poet.
Read four poems by poet Natalie Marino, our fourth biweekly poet of the Winter 2025 issue.
A Conversation with Kate Colby
Poet Kate Colby discusses her latest chapbook, ThingKing, her creative writing practices, and her penchant for poetry chapbooks with PCR Editor Aiden Hunt in this interview piece.
Read three poems by poet Adele Ross, our fifth biweekly poet of the Winter 2025 issue, along with a few words about the poem “Heavy Water”.
Book Excerpt: The Self-Combed Woman by Laynie Browne
Read the featured Excerpt Poem of the Month for March 2025, “The Self-Combed Woman” from Apprentice to a Breathing Hand by Laynie Browne, along with a few words from the poet.
Chapbook Poem: To Let Go by Deirdre Garr Johns
Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for March 2025, “To Let Go” from Fallen Love by Deirdre Garr Johns, along with a few words from the poet.