“Cliffs and the House by the Shore” by Shoshanah Celia Machlay

Shoshanah Celia Machlay (age 14)

CLIFFS AND THE HOUSE BY THE SHORE

Guests peer
Through the windows
Their breath bleeding stains on glass

Freeze—and they’ll fade away
Unceasing they run
From death

Glimpse—through the fog
Glimpse—through the water

The rats and the hounds and the cliffs and the house by the shore

Rain pounds on the door

Little house
Little chimney
Too small, and borderline dull

Guests peer
Through the windows
Their clothes billow out in the wind

Glimpse—through the fog
Glimpse—through the water

The rats and the hounds and the cliffs and the house by the shore

Rain pounds on the door

from 2016 Rattle Young Poets Anthology

__________

Why do you like to write poetry?

Shoshanah Celia Machlay: “I write poetry because I love the click I experience as ideas connect in my head. I love the feeling of having written a poem and, after a day, reading what I wrote and loving it.”

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