My body is a boat, my heart – the navigator. Silent, watchful, sad but steady.
This boat is weather-worn, nine lives lived and faded to blue. Standing still in memory water.
But the heart and body still remember when stars poked holes in the sky,
when the sky shared secrets with the sea. When what was dark turned light again.
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Read more of Shaun Pankoski's work here on Lightwood. Scroll to our Search Button, insert her name and click.
Shaun R. Pankoski (she/her) is a poet most recently from Volcano, Hawaii. A retired county worker and two-time breast cancer survivor, she has been an artist’s model, modern dancer, massage therapist and honorably discharged Air Force veteran. A 2024 Pushcart Prize nominee, her poems have appeared here and in Jackdaw Review, Quartet, Gargoyle, Thimble, and MockingHeart Review, among others. She was selected as a finalist by Lefty Blondie Press for her chapbook manuscript, Tipping the Maids in Chocolate: Observations of Japan and as a first runner up for her poem, Lupine, in their 2025 Editor's Choice Broadsides Series.
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