Maine Coast
for Dylan
I watch the ocean square into a turning
Burn. Burning, my holes glass over. Lightning
Hits the beach, melts me shut. I’ve drowned
Before, in the bye along a row of shored
Rocks. From the barrel chest butcher I buy
Tight roasts. This year’s man, his clownish dog walks me
In the park until I die on his leash and domestic
Night’s sticky seizures. I thumb and ♥ it
Like liking a million times. The rich own long
Lighthouses to show us how away from them
We are. Past waiting for the press of his chest
To my back, I hobby along to the next hem’s
Promise. Again I straddle the blade thinking
This is the time it will fill the gash.
Copyright Credit: Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, "Maine Coast." Copyright © 2016 by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram. Used by permission of the author for PoetryNow, a partnership between the Poetry Foundation and the WFMT Radio Network.
Source: PoetryNow (2016)