Two poems

"February Sail" and "[Dozens of snails]"

“The Ocean” (1866), James McNeill Whistler, The Frick Collection

February Sail
for Jackie

The harbor gleams blue in the light
A mist diffuses the sun
The masts are a pleasing sight
An old and reassuring one
Forever suggesting freedom

Even on this winter day
The wind rides over the sea
And fills the sails like clouds
That carry our thoughts away

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Dozens of snails
In rose translucent shells
and yellow
Plastered like closing flowers
On the dead stems of reeds

from The Eastern Forest
Sowell Collection Books, 2026

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Susan Brind Morrow is the author of Water and The Eastern Forest. Her next collections of poetry and translation will be published with Sowell Collection Books and Christine Burgin/New Directions in 2026. susanbrindmorrow.com