Arrival

Arrival

The announcement's on
the blackboard: pork
with a side of eggs. Today's
Susie Loves Breakfast Special.

I go back
to the prologue, the woman
stepping into the water
where by the end
she'll drown.

Can I bring you coffee? Yes, coffee.

It doesn't seem today will turn
into anything. Tonight it'll take
a few minutes

to remember how old I am,
what exactly Virginia said to Leonard
that morning,

how, before sleep,
she might have loved him—sadly,
passionately.

He must have felt her
good-bye the last night in their bed.

You take care, and we'll see you next time.

I know by now the sky today will keep
what it has to itself.

I'll drive to Coos Bay
or Yachats. In my mind
I'll find where she was when she started down
toward each wave's push
and pull.

I'll know then
I love it here in the wind's cold rush.
All of it breaking against me.