My Happy Place
Jacqueline Jules
“Hand on your heart,” she says.
“Visualize your happy place.”
“It’s a cruise ship,” I answer.
“The one I took six months after.”
“Breathe,” she reminds.
Salt air cleanses my lungs.
I’m standing on the stern,
watching the water foam
in thick white trails.
At the back of the boat,
no one is judging me,
wondering if my grief
lingers too long.
I can throw tears over the rail
like ashes. I can rock inside
the sound of swirling water.
I can whisper into the waves.
And I can feel him near me,
listening.
About the Author
Jacqueline Jules is the author of three chapbooks: Field Trip to the Museum (Finishing Line Press), Stronger Than Cleopatra (ELJ Publications), and Itzhak Perlman’s Broken String, winner of the 2016 Helen Kay Chapbook Prize from Evening Street Press. Her work has appeared in over 100 publications, including Lowestoft Chronicle, The Paterson Literary Review, Cider Press Review, Potomac Review, Inkwell, Hospital Drive, and Imitation Fruit. Visit her online at https://metaphoricaltruths.blogspot.com/