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Breath & Shadow

February 2026 - Vol. 23, Issue 1

"All At Sea"

written by

Beth Winegarner

My breast-


              bone drifts


                            like an unmoored




              boat floating down-


stream, she tells me,


              dipping fingers into




                            my fascia, ribs


              like oars no one


is paddling




              my heart defense-


                            less, hull gaping


              with each swell, seeping




at the slightest


              insult, no wonder


                            I could never hold




              myself together, no


wonder my spine


              cracks like




                            a snapped mast,


              anchor catching silt,


no purchase




              so costly


                            as guarding tender


              viscera with faulty




craft, no lifeboat


              is coming


                            to shore me up




              or make me


sturdy, a sea-


              worthy vessel.

Beth Winegarner is a journalist and writer who’s contributed to the New York Times, the New Yorker, The Guardian, and many others. She is the author of several books, most recently "San Francisco’s Forgotten Cemeteries: A Buried History," and the co-host of the Dead Reckoning podcast.

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