Ghost Ship
Mary Celeste you look adrift encompassed from keel to topmast of fibrous ivory linen tendons disheveled but seaworthy your last log entry was dated ten days ago personal belongings appear undisturbed where are your captain and his wife their two-year-old daughter the crew of seven at this moment there is no sign of wind approaching except for storm cloud grey azure water hash marked by brigantines are you there you are the banded hamstring connecting sky to water the space between them looks fathomable incalculable intelligence of ether and aqua somehow keeps you afloat how to measure it do they even touch do they interlace their fingers cup your keel in their hands from rudder to hull if you’re indeed wet do the sea salts and chill air surround you or slip through you are the heat and cold real riddle me this barrels of denatured alcohol and a crew composed of parallel arrays of collagen closely packed together elastin proteoglycans copper manganese calcium cartilaginous zones reticulin fibers vascular walls capillary membranes all are entangled in a sealed hold atoms are mostly empty space nothing stands still sinew is flexible but makes for inelastic bulkheads it is impossible to predict when a particular atom will decay your passengers may be simultaneously both alive and dead I fear unresolved suspicions your inconclusive nature fosters mystery false details of methylated spirits and fantasy in a state of quantum superposition dense irregular sheaths connect to random subatomic events that may or may not occur show me truth both sacred and profane open your hatch Amy Baskin Amy Baskin’s work is featured in What Rough Beast, Fire Poetry Journal, The Ghazal Page, Postcards, Poetry & Prose, Dirty Chai, Panoply, Riddled With Arrows, and more. She is a 2016 Willamette Writers Kay Snow Poetry award recipient for her poem “About Face.”
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October 2024
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