Steve Klepetar

The Boat of my Birth

They say it happened on a night with no stars,
a night of mist that was almost rain,

and when it was over, my mother held me
above the waves, her quiet face stained with tears

as I lay wrinkled and red, crying a little, then quiet,
as petrels soared and squawked above the mast.


Steve Klepetar has a heart too soon made glad, too easily impressed.