Madaket by Susanna Baird
The beach you know is not the beach you knew is not the beach you will know
is not the sea that the beach will become is not the sea that is eating
the island like a sandpiper forages dinner picking bit and bit
and bit twelve feet a year in nips and spits the waves
the storms pecking at edges that give way to edges
that give way to edges that give
way until the middle
is the edge and
the island is
the sea.
Susanna Baird’s writing has appeared in Boston Magazine, the Boston Globe, and numerous literary journals, including a forthcoming piece in Tiny Molecules. She’s a member of the Salem Literary Festival committee and founder of the micro-journal Five Minutes. Find her at susannabaird.com and on Twitter @SusannaBaird.