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Shann Ray is the author of numerous works, including the short story collection American Masculine, which received the Bakeless Prize, the High Plains Book Award, and an American Book Award; Forgiveness and Power in the Age of Atrocity, a work of creative nonfiction; and the poetry collection Balefire. His essay “Takes Enemy” was the Second Place winner of Narrative’s 2014 Spring Story Contest. Ray lives in Spokane, Washington, with his wife and three daughters and teaches leadership and forgiveness studies at Gonzaga University.

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Ecstasy and Other Poems

by Shann Ray
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Ecstasy

In the dark of morning,
the way flesh
encompasses bone
is nearly visible again
but when the day is full
the skeleton laid bare
at the foot of this bright
mountain speaks my name
saying, remember

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