The Buoy

by Nora Kirkham

“There is a grey eye which ever turns to Erin.” - St. Columba, 521-597 AD

I would have latched a message along its side
for the fishermen in Clare who found it
this morning, battered and crusted
with goose barnacles and saddle-back oysters,
riding along iced waves.

For weeks, this Maine buoy
swept across the dark Atlantic.
Unlatched from its pine-bright bay,
it dove under the wind with seals
until it reached a landing of spring gorse.

I would have slipped my hands underwater
had I been there to find it first,
to see if anything else had drifted this way.

Shadows would swim as I cup the cold sea,
the distance spilling out between my fingers,
knowing it had been here was enough.

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Nora Kirkham is a poet from Maine currently based in Scotland. She was raised in Japan, Australia, and Romania. She has an MA in Creative Writing from University College Cork, Ireland. Her writing has been featured in Rock & Sling, Ruminate Magazine, Tokyo Poetry Journal, and St Katherine Review.