Morning on a Hot Day
		Short Sands, York Beach, ME - 1988
     
		A pearl blue haze
		bleached nearly white by the sun
		swallows the horizon
		so that sea and sky blend mutedly
    
		The sun, haze hot overhead,
		pierces through,
		flattening everything with its glare
    
		cool waves collapse offshore,
		but throw no relief up the
		sand incline of the shore
    
		The beach, freshly raked,
		holds every passage in distinct relief
		barefoot prints and webfoot prints alike
    
		The expanse of sand fills steadily
		persons arriving in multiples of one
		with chairs and blankets to stake their claim
    
		beaches are the only real estate
		man still occupies
		transiently
 
 
 
copyright Michael R. Martin, 1998
all rights reserved