earth note 453

big torch key

the road makes

another right angle
north this time
and then a right angle left
west this time
a strange rodent with long legs
runs in parallel

there's nothing confusing

about any of this
as long as your compass
is the sun

a couple more houses

have moved in
grabbing onto the grid
the guy who's off the grid
in his trailer
still looks out the window
as you pass
he prides himself
on being the last human
at the end of the key

the jersey barriers

meet the end of the asphalt
you can hoof it from here

the mangroves put their feet

deep into the salt
and freshwater
mix
the muck is dense and dark
wherever there's a shoreline

(we still remember sinking to our shins

off no-name key
before the tourists got up
& took over every put-in)

     but

do you really care about any of this
on the rise toward high tide again
a watery burial is just a low-lying landfill
there is no covering your ass
in bureaucratic dossiers
a file of unintelligible gibberish
leaving the next generation with no life raft
     hell
     might just be a counterfeit treasury bond
and all that that represents
the core wet & rotting
an endless full moon
     arising

this isn't the sound of hyperbole

maybe just
beached pilot whales
who've gone silent

--- e b bortz