1.
In the boat’s wake:
a range of mountains,
arching spine of peaks
and valleys molded
into the pliant sea.
The path forward:
littered with driftwood.
2.
The earth’s anxiety
in the liminal spaces:
maelstrom of birds,
the wind’s long howl,
arrhythmic ocean
swelling and collapsing.
3.
The approaching island:
a collage of canopies
greening over the land,
reaching all the way
down to the shoreline.
Look closer: buildings
spot the landscape, white
like flecks of dandruff.
The docks stretch out
like a scar on the sea.
Matthew J. Andrews is a private investigator and writer from California. He is the author of I Close My Eyes and I Almost Remember, and his poetry has appeared in Orange Blossom Review, Pithead Chapel, and EcoTheo Review, among others. He can be contacted at matthewjandrews.com