– For Ashley
In my dreams there is an endless shoreline
and clear water. Shells amass
up to the mangroves. Moonlight cascades
through clouds and adumbrates
a drum circle forming along the tide
as people pound flat the trees and brush
crowding the sand. In Florida
the winter is a cool morning
and clogged roadways. Snowbirds
come to see the manatees and think
of themselves: grey, calm, drifting
within a fluid net that binds them
to their neighbors. Gulls and pelicans
comb the surface as they have for hours,
sometimes falling, sometimes coming back up.
