Chrome & Water

The fragile
off-balance rhyme that buckles yr knees
              the long way back across the sand
kind of ringing in yr bones
                              a surly tango in the parking lot

sunlight grazing on seagrass
              the tide nuzzling up against the cliff
the silver shimmering out there in pieces
                              you can string together
                                                & wear on yr wrist

In the earliest maps California is
depicted as an island
              & as it turns out they were right