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.