Let’s go to the beach today
It’s closed, I know, the Great Highway, the great expanse
But I know a way in-
I’m a scientist.
I’ll show them my credentials, say you’re my assistant
We’re here to study the shoreline, what’s left of it
Bring glass containers for to carry the sand
Bring a blanket for under our heads
We’ll collect our samples, talk carefully about the fragments
Of bone and shell and glass, found amongst the plastic
We’ll walk carefully on the eighteen inches of life
Between the concrete wall and the boundless sea
When the guards see us look up at the sky
They’ll shake their heads, like we used to laugh at anyone
Crazy enough to think that the stars could guide us home
But we know now how far away they are, and how close.