Dear Voyage

Brian Batchelor was awarded First Place in Poetry in the 2015 Prison Writing Contest.


Dear crusted gravestone,
granite mortal marker,

Dear lichen
Dear vine, Dear dirt
ditch and spade:

Salutations.

Dear death-calm waters,
liquid-slack

Dear raft,
anchorless and adrift,
Dear hunched horizon,
Dear looming dark—

still air
stale and flat—

Dear disorienting gloom,
Dear cypress oar, Dear compass
rusted and soot-stained,

Dear farewell beacon,
amorous star
that breaks the black—

Hello.