Sailing Bones
Suffering I drifted to you
Seeing my suffering you suffered
Our conference on calamity
Our joints moved against wind
Sustained our growing pain
Until protruding bones
From our rumpled skin coats
Broke through to expose
Their staid, stagnant structures
To a cat we were dual cat castles
A bird perched upon my clavicle
To a friend traveling by
We no longer existed
But our suffering did
Copyright © 2017 by Alan Felsenthal. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on February 27, 2017, by the Academy of American Poets.
“Sailing stones are large rocks of the desert that leave mysterious tracks in their wake. Driven over time by ice, wind, or prophecy, their varied trails reveal what shapes they’ve left behind. This poem follows what is left after loss.”
—Alan Felsenthal
Alan Felsenthal
Alan Felsenthal is the author of Lowly, forthcoming in May 2017 from Ugly Duckling Presse.