Matthew Caretti

Talitiga

Not quite sea sick
but knowing what might come
I spend the hours between land
in a hard bunk quiet.

                                                  hitching a ride

Save for the screws
that remind with their thrum
of the wavelengths in between
placid old ports.

                                                   on the fuel ship

Its name implies
a bold response to misfortune
to knowing the rest of the world
but abiding here.

                                                   porthole moon

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About the Author

Matthew Caretti has published two books of haibun, Harvesting Stones (2017, Snapshot Press eChapbook Award winner) and Africa, Buddha (2022, Red Moon Press), and a book of haiku, Ukulele Drift (2023, Red Moon Press). His haibun “Deep Water Port” earned a 2023 Touchstone Award for Individual Haibun. He lives and teaches high school English in Pago Pago, American Samoa.

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