Published!

I got an email this weekend saying my poetry submission was accepted for a journal at San Diego State University. They were looking for poems and short stories for children 10-14 with a theme of "Night Rhythms" and what do you know, I actually had one of those! I've actually been working on this for a long time. Should I tell you how long? Anyway, most recently I had a version critiqued last summer at Hollins and when I saw the call for writing, I took upon myself to make some of the suggested changes, and some others as well. What do you think?

Pacific Waves
To see, to see…
anything but pomegranate paws
laced with cold steel fingernails
scraping on the baseboard in the dark.
She sits up in her basement level bunk bed,
stringing in the curtains for her sails.

The frame rattles in time with the whirring
of the water heater in the storage room next door,
whirring, wearing, worrying.
The ghosts have already dirtied
the powdered milk with sketches of their names
(They can only come if she asks)
hovering, hoping, and whispering

pleas...Before the water escapes…
Before she floats through the window
and out to sea...
She’ll ride Pacific waves
through Hawaii and the Seychelles
and maybe into Singapore,
Where snores will transform into lullabies
and sing a poor girl to sleep.