the beach dried up

the day after the rains

 

the recession of tides

invites

the sun

to burn through

the detritus of my emotions

littering the gaudy sands

 

the wave is too heavy

for its own undertow

 

the ocean pulls back the curtain

emptying

and

then

all the embarrassing shards

of my conscience are on display

 

a faded Coke-can rolls up

affirming its unsteadiness

on the sandy cobbles

it bounces and twists in the wind

dances on the waves

like cylindrical balsa wood

its aperture drinks

the fringed edge

of foam bubbling towards it

The black and red

now  experienced silver grey magenta

 

the ocean’s leading edge

pulls back

gathering everything beneath it

inside it

And tries to deliver

all that it has

to those on the shoreline