Yaccaira Salvatierra

Shipwreck

Brittling wood of my ribs, where are you stranded?

I have been driving along Highway 1, windy roads,

tall Cypress trees off the coast of California because

somewhere along the coast between Point Reyes

& farmlands riddled with cows & lavender-

colored lupine, I was told there was a shipwreck

on a beach or marsh, wood eaten by wind, expanding

with water, wood rot, dried by sun & sea salt.

Hijo mío, the story goes like this: when the Ocean imagined you,

It stretched a mighty wave, reached into my chest

& broke the strongest rib above my heart to build you—

I am wounded above the heart, left on a shore

unprotected.

Seeing as I was, sparrows filled the emptiness of me

with a dome-like clay nest & laid their eggs.

I watched as the shells cracked from the inside,

how each chick took flight, none resembling you.

Longing for your song, I called to the Ocean to send

a wave upon me: sea salt on a wound,

the sea sounding in my ear.

Bio

Yaccaira Salvatierra’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in POETRY Magazine, The Nation, Huizache, Narrative, Puerto del Sol, and Rattle among others. Her honors include the Dorrit Sibley Award for achievement in Poetry, a recipient of the Puerto del Sol Poetry Prize, the Lucille Clifton Memorial Scholarship as a fellow at the Community of Writers Workshop, a scholarship recipient for the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference, a fellow at VONA, and a recipient of a residency at Hedgebrook. She has been a finalist of various awards such as the Frontier Poetry Award for New Poets and the Lit Fest Emerging Writer Fellowship in poetry. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a Best of the Net. She lives in Oakland, California where she is a dedicated educator to historically marginalized and resilient communities.