Photos from the Coast

travel the whole day
to taste ocean salt
good love becomes
part of the scenery

a storm chases the ocean
down a glass beach
water pursues other water
sky holds hands with sky

*

I stand on the sunset
on a hundred yard tide flat
a great window of a house
laid on its side in the rain

water pushes up the glass pane
I step back to give it space

*

the ocean looks steady from above
currents pull in all directions

we wake to salt waves
flooding the bed

*

in love the only promise kept
is grief at its end

*

when he showed me his book
his hip curved
I was rolled under
by the force of it

*

isn’t it nice to hear your husband play?
he whispered into my mouth
his lips were the same
sky pink as his tee-shirt

*

a photo can tell a secret
the photographer didn’t see

this photo
this person in love
or very deep in peace
and is there any difference?

*

there are rests between storms
when the earth itself stops
and blush light touches
the skin so familiar

how lucky we are
to have had this one hour

*

music will return
as a cache of past water
it will shake and roll you under
you can swim

*

to write the song
you must change who you are

a picture of the ocean moves
when one has just come from the ocean

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