Walking in from the Point
On the beaches, the shells are crushed
except where the gulf meets the bay,
a two-mile walk from the pavement.
Off the sandy point road, scrub pines
brace their limbs against the Gulf
breeze that cools the bay side.
At the tidal tunnel, hermit crabs wear corpses
of mollusks that once slurped moss below
the "Live Shelling Prohibited" sign.
Late at night, a thrashing in the tree tops--
the next day, one less coon in the yard,
and a State car on the paved road.
Of St. Joseph's Peninsula, Fla.
May 14, 1998