3rd Place Winner of the Poetry Contest: Still Afloat - Judith Yarrow

           —A toast to the living

Here’s to those of us

who are still at sea,

who tread slanted decks,

with sails frayed and rigging

giving way, who close our eyes

and see waves endlessly rolling.

Here’s to those of us who watch

for wear and compass readings

in the same glance, ready

for trouble even in sleep.

Here’s to those of us who circle

on the high seas of our living,

breathing, hesitancy of a life

and wish for a moment

we were at a steady table

toasting those who were still at sea.

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Judith Yarrow has been published in in various magazines, most recently in Aji, Raven’s Perch, and Medusa’s Kitchen. She was the featured poet in Edge: An International Journal, and her poems have been included in the Washington State Poet Laureates’ collections. She lives in Seattle, Washington. Find more of her work at jyarrow.com