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.
First Publication: Anti-Heroin Chic Poetry Magazine, 2017
