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Astoria, Oregon

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​Outside the window the ships

lit like Christmas, so close, 

a hand on the glass picks up their thrum.

 

Winter tide is high. Gale winds 

 

at the river mouth, like a charging bull,

the bar, too treacherous to cross. 

 

Last summer, the Aurora Borealis lit the sky 

 

all the way to Alabama. People watched 

in flip flops from their own backyards.

 

Just think of it – not going anywhere, 

not doing anything but looking up. 

Most years it takes a trek to someplace

exotic – a glass-domed cabin perhaps, 

bed piled with reindeer hides. 

 

Even then, no guarantees. 

 

You can pay a lot for a room with a view 

and never find what you came for. 

 

How much then for this? Gulls 

 

looping and crying,

 

the great ships waiting for light.

 

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​Emily Ransdell is the author of One Finch Singing, winner of the 2022 Lewis Award by Concrete Wolf Press. Her work has appeared in New Letters, Rattle, Terrain, Poetry Northwest, Tar River Poetry, Baltimore Review and numerous other publications. She has received multiple Pushcart nominations.  Emily divides her time between Camas, Washington and Manzanita, Oregon, where she teaches online poetry workshops through the Hoffman Center for the Arts.

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