Like Nowhere Else
              Provincetown 1985-2017


A thin, unblemished boy, 
pretty space between lips, young 
enough to curl under any 
raised wing. Beard-burned mouth 
sucking toward a swallow in Race Point nests. 

So many profiles in dune, 
visible from the sea. 
Short hairs cling damp to the divot 
of my chest – 
I catch your unbuttoned eye 
in blue harbor storm. 

We gloss the liquid spelling of names,
language of sweat, 
a razor burn beneath balls.
A first crust, imperfection on a neck. 
Sandiest shine, fist of corn silk 
separated from scalp. 

On Commercial, flags flap 
above metal beds, 
blessings of the fleet. The red-spotted bill of a gull, 
a forgotten cue as grey wing-feather 
settles into ground. 

Why does periwinkle shadow 
climbing a grassy hill 
off Cemetery Road smell of blue 
cornflower, my youth 
at a tilt? Beneath pine boards 
silvered survivors stroke. 

Tarred hands cling to pylon, 
maintained bodies wrapped 
in parchment, a repeat visitor walks 
in latex pitch.    

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First Publication: Anti-Heroin Chic Poetry Magazine, 2017