Life's a Beach

Life's a Beach

it's the sound of time passing

ripples hint at splash
breakers chisel rock
surf and sapphire
the victims of seething

jetty pylons pool argument
around their bases
toes grow into corrugations
ankles dip in warm seaweed—
reverence trapped

seagulls spin years
at various angles
swallow life in breadcrumbs
squeal an excited antidote
to puppy love

the horizon never changes
same pool table smoothness at dawn
same spinnakers
same indolent clouds

I change/ abstractions weave
spheres of thought through my head
not crystal clear sunlight
more like a storm
brewing behind the mist

crabs caught
by an outgoing tide
waves pinchers in my face
to distract from shifting features

deck chairs line up
to query my evolution
how many summers
for breasts to fill out
hips to swing

fairy lights
in the axis between sand and sea
anoint my claim on adulthood
I rely on the sound of the ocean
to turn all things old
young again