Love Letters Aboard the RMS Titanic

First-class lipstick,

like satin,

gently marking into history

sign-offs and signatures,

transcending boundaries

between land and ocean.

Nothing unwritten;

everything perfected

in the sweet subtlety

of marking names

and millions of ways

to say the same sentiment,

sealed up below the deck.

Traversing the sea,

unread letters wait

in the salt and the sediment,

that will soon wash over them;

the timelessness of tragedy –

of waters that lap

over delicate bodies on beachline shores.

These same elements,

clinging to life

within seawater-stained envelopes

find themselves

just a little too much,

almost a second out of time

with the world outside the ocean.

Now, timelessness has moved on,

and many ships have fallen since,

but there remains

a pocket of air,

huddled in the North Atlantic,

where love letters still muse

with writers’ delicate bones

and the sweet serenade of saltwater.

2017-2018