Morning Grift

In Morning Grift, poet Alex Missall explores the natural and the philosophical in quiet, searching rhythm. Set against the shifting landscapes of Ohio, from wooded trails to open paths that seem to end where they begin, this collection follows a solitary voice navigating loss, memory, and moments of subtle transcendence. Guided by an Eastern thread of Fox Zen, these poems do not seek fixed answers, but instead dwell in the spaces between knowing and unknowing. Wild fox runs in eternal circles. A man walks down a dawning sidewalk while having forgotten his pants. An uncle is lost to brain cancer, but there is only trandescence on the other end of the phone to heaven. Echoes of surreal humor, but also grief, accompany this book. On the Buckeye Trail, and its 1440-mile path that outlines the state, the author finds himself lost while following the Steve Newman Worldwalker Trail. Later, he finds himself lost once more when footing through the caves at Hocking Hills State Park. Missall moves gently through this work, giving way to reflection, stillness, and clarity. The landscapes become more than a setting; they are companions in thought, shaping a journey that is as much inward as it is outward. With restraint and quiet precision, Morning Grift offers a contemplative experience, one that lingers, like a trail revisited, or a question left open just long enough to matter.