The rumors erupted in full summer
When they discovered specters intermingling with the sea.
Your laugh was as quarrelsome as thunder.
It was that year when circumstance forged the key.
The key to the lock, a way out we didn’t wish to surrender.
We watched, the two of us, as homes dwindled to only three.
They dismantled their dwellings, leaving nothing to uncover.
On why they bothered with the wood and stone, we disagree.
We dreamed of outrunning her,
But the vicious waves the port master couldn’t foresee.
No sand, no wind, no lover.
I scraped up my own coin for the fee.
We left Portsmouth in winter.
How easy it was for talismans to masquerade as free.
But I assure you at night they still feel her.
As we do, through the ghost weed and daring fates that may be.
Georgia Hope writes queer fantasy with a southern gothic twist and essays that break down the turbulent relationship between adolescence and academia. Currently a high school senior in the state of Texas, her idea of a good time is exploring haunted small towns with a notebook, camera, and a large cup of iced coffee. When she’s not making her readers cry you can find her gathering more bizarre lore for her next story or having an existential crisis on her instagram page @georgiainabook.
Featured image by Joseph Barrientos on Unsplash.
