from Here Come the Waves

The tide sneaks in

Two hermit crabs
have a standoff

in the shallows
of the brackish pond

A goose and her goslings hide
in shore grass

A canoe slides by
mostly unnoticed

House on a hill
Panoptic view

*

A mosquito lands on my face

I smack it

*

Loon neck or lobster
trap buoy

Seagulls harassing
a bald eagle

in its nest
guarding its eggs

We go on
about our business

Dream of something
pleasant

*

What’s in the poem
is what I

inhabit Be
and believe

*

A man and woman
not even speaking

A man and woman
speaking

Either way
the source of ruin

is a place
they can’t reach

*

Ok fine
The man and woman

are anyone
I’ve ever loved

Downed tree
or person is it

on the bank ahead

*

It’s my failure—
this inability

to see much other than
strife and struggle

Imprecision of care
and concern

The damage we do
to each other

Water washing down
the water we’re

choking on
This amazing li(f)e

Safety is

destruction

The wars coming

The wars
that've been

A ship
A knife
blade

Subject dis-
connected

The river is full

A futuristic experience

Madonna's Borderline

blaring from the bodega

66th and 5th

28 degrees and overcast

the parts of yourself

you leave out to form

an identity

mismatched

hubcaps

the days bearable

the nights not

the dance

your skin does

a deadly

quiet neighborhood

I will never not be
suspicious of anyone
who wants a job
that requires
a gun
Tools
of consensus
More bullets
than people

“Money, money, money! All any of us really cares about is money” says the CEO of the large
tech company

The sadness in my home
is palpable

Hits
when you enter

Stays with you
long after you leave

I put the ceiling fan on high
A gesture to the air
to circulate

the sadness out
disperse it back to where
it came from

What I wouldn’t pay
for that

What I wouldn’t pay
to never have to

pay again