Oceans of Salty Sky
by Annette Sisson
You and I parted in early light,
me still in my bathrobe piling
clothes in an open suitcase—long-
planned trip to the coast. You left
first, to meet our friend’s niece
at the coffee shop, recount the stories
she didn’t know—his sailboat races,
anthems for the church choir, dry
jokes, smoky guitar chords.
Shards of an old uncle gathered
before tomorrow’s eulogies. I’ll tune in
to the service from Seattle if the signal
holds. In this morning’s clutch, I dressed,
wrestled the luggage shut, grabbed
a hot pink sharpie and pad of yellow
post-its, tucked notes in places
I knew you’d look—beside your razor,
dog crate, bottle of cholesterol meds,
sock drawer, peanut butter jar.
You’ll find them, almost hear my voice
lifting from the surface. I’ll listen
for yours in the plane’s ambient roar.
Annette Sisson’s poems appear in The Penn Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, Rust & Moth, Cider Press Review, West Trade Review, and many other journals and anthologies. Her second book, Winter Sharp with Apples, was published by Terrapin Books (2024), and her third book manuscript, Rhizomes and Bones, is currently seeking a publisher. In 2019 she won The Porch Writers’ Collective’s poetry prize, and since then she has won and placed in numerous contests.
