Gulls swing over the whitecaps <\/p>\n\n\n\n
as if suspended on sticks <\/p>\n\n\n\n
and driven around from above, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
the low, soot sky being the proscenium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just birds. They’ve seen a lot, I think, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
maybe giant ships drowned, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
pummeled by air and water, forced <\/p>\n\n\n\n
to the bottom of the jagged pitch pull of the bay <\/p>\n\n\n\n
and held there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Erosion looms like an algae bloom, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
a poison here at Presque Isle Park, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
where signs ignored for generations <\/p>\n\n\n\n
cry, “caving ground,” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“caving ground \/ do not cross.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, Presque <\/p>\n\n\n\n
breaks and sighs, sloughs into the eater, the ship eater, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
deepest teal on black and red iron cliffs flicking sharp tongues <\/p>\n\n\n\n
at kids who scrabble down the edges where it is climbable, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
their fingers clawing out the clay and rock of the isle, soft sneakers <\/p>\n\n\n\n
shaving it down step by step feeding it to Superior, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
past pendulous shorebirds and autumn leaves, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
a blessing this time of year. The wind has been kind, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
though it doesn’t feel that way now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pressing <\/p>\n\n\n\n
in a ring encircling the clifftops, I walk <\/p>\n\n\n\n
on the heavy road from which you can see ships <\/p>\n\n\n\n
coming in as small dots and as slow sea dragons, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
and here, nearest to the edge, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
a cross ribboned to a tree. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wish they hadn’t <\/p>\n\n\n\n
let their grief and religion run loose like that <\/p>\n\n\n\n
to play with mine, all ripped, rent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What a monstrous thought. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don’t want to think. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to be a picturesque drive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to be in front of a sunset for someone, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
to give it shapes. I want to erode, erode, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
touch the wind and waves again, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
again, lovingly, so that I still break, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
still fall like sand, a grain at a time, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
fall off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n