Tidal Flats

Confirmed by the Common Terns that plunge-dive—
Exclamation marks into an August harbor; by

The—luminous—

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMoonsnails, Knobhead Whelk, and
Periwinkle; by the sun-interrogated

Ghost-crabs flung
Among the pale straws fired through marl;

By the tiny brackish waves that recall only

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThat residual chore, to carry on
And on about you; by the lonely Laughing

Gull, heading home in every direction; by
The—dulled—

Coca-Cola shards confused with Brittle Stars, and
Half-buried in the wet gauze of grass; by

The sand-drawn skull that you had claimed

To be no less than the “circumference
xxxxxxxOf knowledge”; and

By the least physical of all problems
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx—Your two,

Cloudy, dark-blue eyes that had convinced me
There were no such things as lies.