Mers-Les-Bains
I love this quiet the surviving
drug trade like ocean ash
first came the drought then the fallen roads then
the littered wind
dogs milling about
among the debris crush
then a stranger came at noon
picked up from the dust
a fistful of heart wounds like dice
shook and released them like flies
into the heat haze
at night silent tribes of white deer like hills
surround what remains to grieve with us
I love the ocean because
it has no tracks or direction
the arch of oil light burns
all night between separate islands
I think we all just need
to disappear from each other more.
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Ansley Clark is a first year MFA candidate at the University of Colorado Boulder where she also teaches introductory creative writing. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in Colorado and has work forthcoming in The Legendary.