Ghost Ship
No one but she is aware
of the whale baleen
inserted in her stay
like a sword in a scabbard.
He'd carved his ship
with a forget me not
into the cartilage
then sent it to her
from Nantucket
before the Forget Me Not
sailed north
and was abandoned.
The news took years
to reach her.
It still holds her body,
sculpting her
into a walking statue.
Softened by her warmth,
the ship moves over
the waves he carved
and presses her form
into shape
somewhere below her heart.
Rebecca Gethin has written five poetry publications and has been a Hawthornden Fellow and a Poetry School tutor. Messages was a winner in the first Coast to Coast to Coast pamphlet competition. Vanishings has just been published by Palewell Press. She blogs at http://www.rebeccagethin.wordpress.com.