thick salty winds,
still flashing lights,
two shadows move in unison
stop and bend down to inspect
the shoreline

ocean half-white, foaming
under a half-moon,
misty twilight opacity
swirling into one amorphous moment
stretched
into layered color swatches
of sky—
blues and purples,

garbage being collected,
sand emptied from shoes;

on an almost deserted beach
she walks back to me
from the car
with a blanket