Ona GritzTHERE AMONG THE HAVESA girl with one prosthetic leg dances * ** TWELVE YEARS OLD, SWIMMINGAwkward in new angles and curves, in the bright false blue of the pool my shoulders in. Light, afloat, I exhaled until shivering and famished, I rose Ona Gritz studied poetry in the Graduate Creative Writing program at New York University. Her second book for children, Tangerines and Tea: My Grandparents and Me (Harry N. Abrams) was named best Alphabet Book of 2005 by Nick Jr. Family Magazine. Her poetry has been published in numerous anthologies and journals, including Paterson Literary Review, The Pedestal Magazine, The Barefoot Muse, Ekphrasis and Tattoo Highway. Her poem "First Anniversary" won first prize in category 2 of the 2007 Inglis House Poetry Contest. Her chapbook of poems Left Standing was released in 2005 by Finishing Line Press. Gritz, who has cerebral palsy, writes a monthly column for the online journal Literary Mama, on her experiences as a mother with a disability raising her able-bodied son. |