Writing on the Wall
On the heels of the siren
A hissing undertow
Back-bending sea-oats
Palm fronds frisked
Static in the aquarium
White knuckles on the horizon surely
higher than our roof
Horseshoes hung down on the beach
Will cavalry recede
Between magnet shore and magnet moon
Won’t ocean float
Sorry fish so sorry garden
A fist mounted the ocean and scrawled on the promenade:
Equality
*
No Souvenir
After the hurricane, scour
the sand for wholeness
in seashells
Chips and shards mirroring
breakers and stars, they’re
security, eyes of the beach
Face down snug
insignia on their back, they
carry the world, do not touch
Ears blown
Spine spiralx posed
Toss back to the breeze
*
April 13, 2006
The way the tornado wailed
Lips to the rim
Flower and needle
Unsheathed tip
Curling growl
as it landed
Shaking in the basement
We ate the smell
We wept
Wept for it
Wept for us
for days on our knees begging
for a photograph intact
among the toothpicks
***