II.

This is another piece of the larger, narrative work I am putting together. There is, of course, much more work to be done. This piece alone is a work in progress, but I figure I'd post some here and see what people think. Originally, I played around with the structure of words on the page a bit. I don't know how to do that with this blog, so the poem is just flushed left.

II.

By the sea we ran in circles,
two boys in the California sun,
our shoulders browned from the heat
and our eyes stinging at the corners
from wiped away ocean water
and the backs of sand-stuck hands.

In the water I let my body go,
subject to ebb and tide,
constancy of Pacific pull,
before wading back to
the coast.

I wrote his name,
Michael,
Brother,
on the shore –
entry to ephemeral castles,
marking kingdoms
of a world moved west.