Theresa Griffin Kennedy

“You are the mermaid; I am the mermaid hunter.
You lead me through your wake and I follow,
Knowing my fate.
You swish your tales and the water boils between them:
I sink,
I drown,
going down
to green depths
wordless.

I shall not taste your full sweetness, only
your salt madness;
I will not tell our wild secrets,
For while it lasts, my hollow skull skulks after you,
Lying at times in your cold hands,
To be tossed aside indifferently,
Roll and rise with the tides, fall again,
Come to rest half buried in the sinking
shifting sands.
Anemones be my eyes
As I watch you swimming from me
Laughing.”
― Dorsey Griffin, Woman Who Runs with Wolves: Poetry of the Macabre and Other Poems

“In 1905, more than 1,700 young women made Portland their home. That trickle soon became a flood, and by 1907 more than 7,000 women a year were coming to Portland look for new lives.”
― Theresa Griffin Kennedy, Murder & Scandal in Prohibition Portland: Sex, Vice Misdeeds in Mayor Baker's Reign

“The butter was real of course. Daddy had a fetish about using only real butter. As he handed it to me, I noticed the hue was brash and yellow, almost like the artificial color used in the making of cheap Margarine. The boysenberry preserves were recently purchased. The glass had a bright red foil label with intricate embossed wording and as I turned the lid, I heard the sucking sound of the seal breaking. Daddy looked over, concerned, until I carefully laid the jar of jam on the counter, pushing it toward him. "I can do everything Tweetie Bird," he said to me. I smiled, embarrassed at my old nickname from when I was a child and nodded my head.”
― Theresa Griffin Kennedy, War Stories 2015: an anthology

“When Daddy turned back to the slim volume of Benton's poetry, and spoke the following words, I knew he was speaking from his own heart, as he said the words with a new feeling of confidence and authority. I knew those words were his words, too and that somehow Benton had spoken those same words for so many other men who could never personally say them. "...and when the enemy is; the lost, the vacant/the aimless something belched out of a vast and blind explosion/I have no heart for that/Mine is not the skill for overseeing/My hand is not the hand to wield God's flaming sword." His voice quavered brokenly with the last line, as Daddy closed the book gingerly and turned to look at me, embarrassed yet unapologetic. His face tried to smile but couldn't. The tears that had formed in his eyes clung to the dark grey lashes and reflected the light from the setting sun outside. I finally reached over and without saying anything, placed my hand over his.”
― Theresa Griffin Kennedy, War Stories 2015: an anthology