After Seeing Nelson’s HMS Victory
Lately I have been in the habit of opening
every door twice. If it’s a good day
I’ll find the lost thing I’ve been looking for
on the first try. And if it’s a bad day
I’ll close my hand around the key until blood
wells up like a spring opening in my palm.
Because I am young and brand new. I am still
learning how to live. I leave my socks on
at the beach. I swim with my eyes open.
I am trying to remember what’s important:
that love is not the ship in the bottle,
it’s the refraction of light that comes in through
the side of the glass, how the sails come alive
when you’re standing in the exact right spot.
I open the windows two, three, four times
on the good days, making a clear passage
for the light, like saying a little prayer.
S. Cristine is a poet living and writing in Los Angeles. Her preoccupations include the passage of time, double-trunked trees, and why bottles of honey are always sticky no matter what. She has lived in Boston and London, and is currently working on her first chapbook.