Stonework is published by Houghton College, a Christian liberal arts college located in New York’s rural Genesee Valley. Stonework seeks a diverse mix of mature and emerging voices in fellowship with the evangelical tradition. Published twice a year, the journal reflects the arts community at Houghton College where excellence in music, writing, and the visual arts has long been a distinctive.

Stonework Journal Home

Letters to the Editor

Stonework Staff

Submission Guidelines

Editorial Philosophy

Our Favorite Links

E-mail Stonework: StoneworkJournal@gmail.com

  • Issue 6
    Poetry by Paul Willis and Thom Satterlee. Fiction and interview with Lori Huth. Essay by James Wardwell, and student poets from Christian campuses.
  • Issue 5
    Poetry by Susanna Childress and Debra Rienstra. Fiction excerpt by Emilie Griffin. Art from Houghton's 2007 presidential inauguration and a forum on women writing.
  • Issue 4
    Matthew Roth--new poems. Diane Glancy--from One of Us and an interview. John Tatter-on gardens and poetry. The Landscapes of John Rhett. Stephen Woolsey--on the poetry of Jack Clemo. James Wardwell--on Herrick.
  • Issue 3
    Poetry by Julia Kasdorf, Robert Siegel and Sandra Duguid. Fiction by Tom Noyes. The portraits of Alieen Ortlip Shea. An anthology of Australian Poets
  • Issue 2
    Thom Satterlee - Poems from Burning Wycliff with an appreciation by David Perkins. Alison Gresik - new fiction and an interview. James Zoller - Poems from Living on the Floodplain.
  • Issue 1
    Luci Shaw — new poems with an appreciation by Eugene H. Peterson & Hugh Cook — new fiction and an interview

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Brown Trout

~Karen Knight

You were more beautiful
breathing in a chalk stream
of sunlight than this damaged
rainbow, smoked in native timber
shavings, garnished with pepper
berries, bush tucker spice.
It's impossible to set my knife
and fork onto your skin
of spotted halos.

Did the angler see the clean blade
of your belly when you leapt
at his lure of mayfly nymph?

You are nature's only creation
when rubbed by chefs with Lark's
Distillery Apple Schnappes.

Worthy of a wooden plaque
in the Anglers Hall of Fame
you are the essence of Tasmania
the purest strain of sea-run trout
sharing a wall with your ancestors
who as eggs, were carried in a billy can
on horseback, to be laid in a gentle
lowland stream to hatch.

With the blood of an orange
I squeeze forgiveness
over the history of patterns
on your back;

for the baritone slurp
of your dying as you mouth
our thick, human air.

~~~~~

Next: Winter Solstice