Sleeping with a Ghost
Water flooded the seaman’s lungs as he fell
to his knees on the beach. They kissed,
then lived swimmingly on coconuts and eggs,
but each day the lady’s fingers drummed
on the skin above the bones above his heart
until he left his flesh and said, “I’m sorry.
My hands are useless.” She worked with this,
erecting small altars, like sugared rosettes,
to lost love and lighting up their palm-tree hut
with the melodrama of Catholic candles.
She didn’t know she was sleeping with a ghost,
licking the invisible and opening her legs
to the air as sand formed stars on her back.
She murmured to the memory of his ear
how the one who was saved was her savior.
She didn’t know she was living alone
until the tide rose, the moon rolled away,
his ship surfaced and skittered out to sea.
first published in Gulf Coast
Cathleen Calbert’s poetry and prose have appeared in many publications, including Ms. Magazine, The New Republic, The New York Times, and The Paris Review. She is the author of four books of poetry: Lessons in Space, Bad Judgment, Sleeping with a Famous Poet, and The Afflicted Girls. Her awards include The Nation Discovery Award, a Pushcart Prize, the Sheila Motton Book Prize, the Vernice Quebodeaux Poetry Prize for Women, and the Mary Tucker Thorp Award from Rhode Island College.
Water flooded the seaman’s lungs as he fell
to his knees on the beach. They kissed,
then lived swimmingly on coconuts and eggs,
but each day the lady’s fingers drummed
on the skin above the bones above his heart
until he left his flesh and said, “I’m sorry.
My hands are useless.” She worked with this,
erecting small altars, like sugared rosettes,
to lost love and lighting up their palm-tree hut
with the melodrama of Catholic candles.
She didn’t know she was sleeping with a ghost,
licking the invisible and opening her legs
to the air as sand formed stars on her back.
She murmured to the memory of his ear
how the one who was saved was her savior.
She didn’t know she was living alone
until the tide rose, the moon rolled away,
his ship surfaced and skittered out to sea.
first published in Gulf Coast
Cathleen Calbert’s poetry and prose have appeared in many publications, including Ms. Magazine, The New Republic, The New York Times, and The Paris Review. She is the author of four books of poetry: Lessons in Space, Bad Judgment, Sleeping with a Famous Poet, and The Afflicted Girls. Her awards include The Nation Discovery Award, a Pushcart Prize, the Sheila Motton Book Prize, the Vernice Quebodeaux Poetry Prize for Women, and the Mary Tucker Thorp Award from Rhode Island College.
