Step Through
By Kyla Houbolt
October 15, 2023
October 15, 2023
for Ankh Spice
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When I was a carpenter I used to brag that I could hang any kind of door: solid core, garage door, pocket door, sliding glass door, you name it. I was not considering all the other doors, such as
giraffe doors cloud doors rock doors traffic noise doors jujube doors etc. no doubt because, at the time, no one was installing those in their houses or buildings. |
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What interests me now is the sea floor door. In fact, it turns out, the sea floor door is composed of multiple, numerous, possibly infinite numbers of smaller doors, or perhaps we should call them "other" doors. Numerous numbers of them. Duplication is also a door
as is duplicity
but we were talking about the ocean.
I made a charm, a spell, an offering, for a friend and for myself, for our wishes to come true, and I placed it on a huge driftwood log on the beach. All it was was a small group of pretty treasures -- a couple of shells, some tiny crystals -- all in a row on the log. I went back to check on it every so often. It continued to abide just as I had placed it, for weeks. Once I found one of the items moved but I adjusted it back to its original position. The charm was gathering power. Today when I looked, it was all gone, except for one piece: a shell fragment, in the shape of a heart sheltered under one spread wing.
The offering was accepted and this was the return message, to me and my friend, our hearts sheltered under the sea's great wing. I put it in my pocket and brought it home.
A pocket
is a door.
Also on this day, two eagles flew overhead, calling. I tried to take their picture, but failed.
as is duplicity
but we were talking about the ocean.
I made a charm, a spell, an offering, for a friend and for myself, for our wishes to come true, and I placed it on a huge driftwood log on the beach. All it was was a small group of pretty treasures -- a couple of shells, some tiny crystals -- all in a row on the log. I went back to check on it every so often. It continued to abide just as I had placed it, for weeks. Once I found one of the items moved but I adjusted it back to its original position. The charm was gathering power. Today when I looked, it was all gone, except for one piece: a shell fragment, in the shape of a heart sheltered under one spread wing.
The offering was accepted and this was the return message, to me and my friend, our hearts sheltered under the sea's great wing. I put it in my pocket and brought it home.
A pocket
is a door.
Also on this day, two eagles flew overhead, calling. I tried to take their picture, but failed.
Kyla Houbolt has been writing poems all her life, and began publishing in 2019. Her first chapbook, Dawn's Fool, was published by Ice Floe press and is sold out; her second, Tuned, was published by CCCP Chapbooks + Subpress. Surviving Death, from The Broken Spine Ltd., will be her third and But Then I Thought (from Above/ground Press) her fourth. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including Sublunary Review, Barren, Janus, Juke Joint, Moist, Neologism, Ghost City Review, and Stone Circle Review. Most of her online work can be found on her Linktree. Her current social media presence is on BlueSky Social (still in beta as of this writing), here: @luaz.bsky.social, and on Instagram @kyla_luaz.