Ellen Birkett Morris

Beware the Tall Grass weaves the stories of the Sloans, a modern family grappling with their young son Charlie's troubling memories of a past life as a soldier in Vietnam, and Thomas Boone, a young man caught up in the drama of mid-60s America who is sent to Vietnam. Eve Sloan struggles as a mother to make sense of Charlie's increasing references to war, and her attempts to get to the bottom of Charlie's past life memories threaten her marriage, while Thomas is challenged with loss and first love, before being thrust into combat and learning what matters most.

Lost Girls explores the experiences of women and girls as they grieve, find love, face uncertainty, take a stand, find their future, and say goodbye to the past. A young woman creates a ritual to celebrate the life of a kidnapped girl, an unmarried woman wanders into a breast feeder's support group and stays, a grieving mother finds solace in an unlikely place, a young girl discovers more than she bargained for when she spies on her neighbors. Though they may seem lost, each finds their center as they confront the challenges and expectations of womanhood.

A follow-up to Morris's chapbook Surrender (Finishing Line Press), Abide deals with the act of entering into middle age with focus and purpose to savor each moment. Abide was selected as Number 3 in Volume Nine of the limited-edition Summer Kitchen Series.

Ellen Morris' short, spare poems in Surrender are full of vivid images, arrows aimed at our shared human experiences. It's as if she reads our memories and says, "Yes, I know." She slides from sweet to astringent to amorous. A mother sends her daughter off to school: "…I catch a glimpse/of her purple gloved hand waving/as she sends me off into the world." A father is remembered as he polished his shoes: "…The bristled brush so like you, easily rubbed the wrong way." The joy of Saturday sex: "As the mailman rings the doorbell, we lie together slowing."
Each verse contains a delightful surprise.