Beachhead


She chose her attack
near the seawall
stumbled across the embankment
beneath the dock
yet clothed in bullion
facing the moon
kissing the sea’s lip
trips along the slant
pulls afternoon into evening in
dunes beyond
Afterward, my sister
would be spent
At this moment
emerald darkness at shoreline
defies her mission
beyond the sandbank
where storm thrashed rocks
reveal fissures carved by water
eaten by sun and ice
dug out by the millennia
fungus and algae crusted holystone
while tonight’s new mist fuses
into the coast’s radiance
she grieves this beach
with me, the only ones,
on the planet,
who sit on this sand
unfolding her hands, grains scatter
away from her salty toes
she hunts for seaweeds
attached to rocks
nursed by the ocean
to forget
beaten and etched by the wind
will only
say this is our
favorite beach
not a dangerous place.