Gaze at the horizon where water and sky

draw thin delineation that curves slight,

highlighted by sunbeam askew, bouncing

off atmosphere and water surface to create

this mirror above. I shellac this gondola

 

because the folks of Isle de Jean Charles deserve

a ride, and I’ll dip my oar, sing them ashore, be

their undine. This boat needs coat after coat

to last past this flooding. Let’s create a new

Venezia, make the most of our suffering,

 

and build higher to prepare for this land

to vanish. Gaze at the trees that make of this

scenery the heart rhythm of our electro-

cardiogram. Soak up their silhouettes,

make peace with their presence before

they drown.

 

 

Seán Griffin received an MFA in Creative Writing from Manhattanville College. Seán’s writing has appeared in The Southampton Review, Selcouth Station Press, Impossible Archetype, Dust Poetry Magazine, Non.Plus Lit, Sonic Boom, and elsewhere, with poetry in The Mud Season Review, Mineral Lit Magazine, and The Hellebore forthcoming. Seán teaches writing at Concordia College of New York, is an editor for Inkwell Literary Journal, and lives in New York with three dogs.