Charleston

you were the sea glass

I was the sand between your toes

the dunes were our neighbors

the waves crashed and rose

Charleston was reticent

Galveston was battened down

and the ocean is ours

is everyone's

is its own

indifferent

You had seaweed eyes

and I had crab hands

we were saltwater baptized

and pirate gentlemen

we danced in the drawing room

sank port on Cabbage Row

slighted a Hessian prince

in the crepe myrtle glow

and the ocean is ours

is everyone's 

is its own

un defied

We're running on cobblestones

raining in the market square

fresh meat for vultures

breathing ionized air

you were the hurricane

I was the warning

fountains were magnetized

at 6 in the morning

in Charleston

I was home