Picking the Lock
I try a bleached bird-bone,
a rutted nail,
my grandmother’s spoon ring uncurled in fire,
a sharp pine-needle waxed in resin,
the slim spine of his favorite book,
until he cries.
I ask the wimpled ghosts
if the key is a word
to place it on my tongue,
please, place it here.
Megan Merchant is the author of three chapbooks: Translucent, sealed. (Dancing Girl Press, 2015), In the Rooms of a Tiny House (ELJ Publications, forthcoming 2016), and Unspeakable Light (Throwback Books, Summer 2016). Her debut full-length poetry collection, Gravel Ghosts, was recently released from Glass Lyre Press. Her second full-length collection, The Dark’s Humming, won the 2015 Lyrebird Prize through Glass Lyre Press and will be published in 2017. She also has a forthcoming children’s book through Philomel Books.