Reader Submissions

Shelter

by

Angela Costi

We are the travelers of small steps

wearing pyjamas and slippers

to greet each room as if it were a country

encountered from a plane flight,

konnichiwa to the space called Living

ola to the island called Kitchen

nin hao to the mattress of pent up dreams,

in the study there is the desk

holding geography’s memory,

salve, kalimera, take me with you.

My mother will be lighting her candles

on her bench-top to create her church,

my father will shuffle with his frame

to the chair on the porch with the vista

of his twelve year-old eyes diving

for sea sponges from an unsteady pier.

This space termed Home

is a document of journey

as we come to know the walls as trees

we long to climb,

the doors to close or open

depending on altitude and inclement,

the ceiling will seem higher than Everest,

from the carpet we see the grit

of hiking through jungle.

And there, in the lonely corner

is the blue rug to sit on and breathe in

the smell of the ocean calling its waves

to sweep our dust.

Shelter is the 2nd place winner (tied) of the 2020 Meniscus Poetry Award