Michael T. Young: “Ways to Open”

WAYS TO OPEN

The door to my house

is so blue, I think of it

as an entrance to the sea.

In its beveled window,

reflected clouds swell white

like an organ forming, a lung

alluvial and spilling its breath

of salt gems and spindrift.

Waters splash off the frame

depositing on the doorsill

memories in the shape of shells,

a sprinkling of sea glass.

The blue sky beyond looms

and reminds me: there is a lock,

and somewhere, a key.

On clear days, I can remember

that what I’m attempting

is to find new ways to open.

Michael T. Young’s third full-length collection, The Infinite Doctrine of Water, was published by Terrapin Books. His other collections are The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost and Transcriptions of Daylight. He has received a Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the 2014 Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award. Young’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous journals, including Cimarron Review, Cortland Review, Journal of New Jersey Poets, and RATTLE.

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