Virginia Barrett
Sailing to D.C.
In the sea of these blind
eyes the lying boats
launch: a race across
albatross-skies. What is
vision aimed at the horizon
line? Earth is an orb of
surging insight—the waves
of justice weep. All this talk
thick with salt; drop these
sails . . . the tangled
rigging fails. Shinny
up the mast to sight
our land.
Virginia Barrett’s books of poetry include Between Looking (forthcoming, 2019 from Finishing Line Press), Crossing Haight, and I Just Wear My Wings. Barrett is the editor of two anthologies of contemporary San Francisco poets including OCCUPY SF—poems from the movement. Her work has most recently appeared in the Writer’s Chronicle, Narrative, Roar: Literature and Revolution by Feminist People, Ekphrastic Review, Weaving the Terrain (Dos Gatos Press), and Poetry of Resistance: Voices for Social Justice (University of Arizona Press). She received a 2017 writer’s residency grant from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of Taos, NM. Her chapbook, Stars By Any Other Name, was a semi-finalist for the Frost Place Chapbook Competition sponsored by Bull City Press, 2017. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
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