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Sand Actions

Each ferry is a popped balloon

Trapper Markelz
1 min readAug 6, 2022
Photo by Mier Chen on Unsplash

1
A couple in striped shirts
stares across the sand.
I can’t tell if they are married
or deep in revolution.
Children bury their eyes
in beach book pages.
The sun off the water
is a bonfire extinguished
in the wake of each rich yacht
that disobeys the signs.

2
Sand makes the insects sing —
loud as a packed night.
Cockroaches and cicadas
blend into a hiss of bee flight
and bird cackle. The dew
rests on a reclaimed garden,
a hovel for skunks who invade
the commons with tragic stories
that linger as we drive
with the top down,
pointy shoulders stained
by a south wind.

3
Each ferry is a popped balloon —
a beacon of escaping crabs
that walk sideways across the dock
drop breadcrumbs for shorebirds,
slip into parking spaces,
queue for the bus, the…

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Trapper Markelz
Trapper Markelz

Written by Trapper Markelz

Trapper Markelz (he/him) is a poet who writes from Boston, MA. His work has appeared in numerous journals and publications. Check out http://trappermarkelz.com

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