Lia Purpura, Parasol Mushroom (detail), featured in AGNI 102
Tidal Flats
Confirmed by the Common Terns that plunge-dive—
Exclamation marks into an August harbor; by
The—luminous—
Periwinkle; by the sun-interrogated
Ghost-crabs flung
Among the pale straws fired through marl;
By the tiny brackish waves that recall only
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
Of knowledge”; and
By the least physical of all problems
—Your two,
Cloudy, dark-blue eyes that had convinced me
There were no such things as lies.
Published:
| Online 2003

Frederick Speers
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