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back HOLLY KARAPETKOVA

There Are Boats

There are boats
and people sail them
out to sea
out past the sight of land
across an ocean
full of sharks.

There are boats
and people on them
far out at sea
deep in the pockets
of a gathering storm.

There are boats
that sink
and boats that float
boats made of
metal and wood
and boats made
of inflatable plastic

full of children
full of mothers
floating with nothing
but what they could carry
carrying nothing
but the air beneath them.  

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   Contributor’s notes

   Another Immigrant Story
   Fragments Reconstructed from a Poem
   There Are Boats

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