A Poem by Clarissa Aykroyd

Pacific Swift

Swing with the planet
masts tilt down
toward space

Surface glowing
heaven
above the sky of the water

Air expanding
through the open door
of moonlight

Waiting for anchor drag
like bones scraping

But it never comes

To swing so lightly
on a ship
on a line

A kite on a string
in a heavier element
still seen by angels

Clarissa Aykroyd is from Victoria, Canada and now lives in London. Her poems and translations have been published internationally, and she is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee. Her pamphlet Island of Towers was published by Broken Sleep Books in 2019.