Steve Gerson
after wind shears
after angry sea clouds
serrate like knife edges
after palms shed leaves
in torrents of despair
after winds sting with memory
like shrieking sea birds
after fears lace in seaweed nettles
and strangle
after seashell steps break
into contempt
and blood seeps into sand
after waves spray thought thoughtlessly
like I’ve thought words onto you
each word a shell sliver under skin
after you asked why
and I answered
with a hurricane’s dead eye
after sorrow like rainfall
and skies blackening
I swim toward undertow
tasting salt on my bitten tongue
as waves retreat seaward
in my low tide
***
Steve Gerson writes poetry and flash about life’s dissonance. He has published in CafeLit, Panoplyzine, Crack the Spine, Decadent Review, Vermilion, In Parentheses, and more, plus his chapbooks Once Planed Straight; Viral; and The 13th Floor: Step into Anxiety from Spartan Press.