Gabrielle Langley

Estate Sale
 
Light slants through lace,
reaching for a wall.
I cannot count
the specs of dust,
the pale gold dancing
in a blue light.
 
A lifetime of kid gloves
and silk shoes,
dyed to match.
Vintage hat boxes
stuffed with monogrammed
letterhead, paper cuts,
blank thank-you notes,
die-cut valentines,
a forgotten chocolate,
a broken paint brush.
 
A tower of Vogue magazines
looms in the corner,
almost touching the ceiling.
 
How many buttons
scattered when this jar fell?
 
How do you rehydrate
a pressed flower?
 
I want to untangle this
tarnished web of necklaces.
 
How many broken doll parts
would be required
to bring you back,
to clean up this mess?
 
It will take an army
of porcelain figurines
to find the missing teaspoon,
to reconstruct a shattered vase.



Constellation
                                                                
If I try to imagine
      a life without you
           the Iceland spar
               slips from my hands,
                     a Viking sunstone
                        and all the sextants
                              washed overboard,
 
hurricanes
      the strongest anchor
           cannot hold.
 
                        If the finest ship
                                   must capsize
                                         under the right conditions,
                                               then teach me how to use wind
                                                     to shred all the sails.
 
Teach me to navigate
      using only the stars. 
 
Teach me how angels hide on the ocean floor,
      how their wings float off to become the waves,
 
and if you make it back home,
     please bring me
           a starfish,
                 a green bottle
                       filled with pearls,
                             and the scent
                                   of your warmest coat.

Gabrielle Langley has won the Lorene Pouncey Award, Houston Poetry Fest’s Jury Prize, and the Vivian Nellis Memorial Prize. Her first book of poetry, Azaleas on Fire, was released in 2019. With work appearing in a variety of literary journals, and three Pushcart prize nominations, Ms. Langley was also a spearhead and co-editor for the anthology Red Sky: Poetry on the Global Epidemic of Violence against Women (Sable Books, 2016). Additional information about this poet can be found at www.gabriellelangley.com.