Alki the Town of Dreams

Facing east towards water, a dozen porch benches
overlook an isle of skyscrapers; but nearer, a strip

of gray beach sand, a pier house selling hairy muscles
each second, then one long hour of bike rentals riding

a mile of fresh gravel laid to rest beside the docks.
On the street, a song plays about mermaids kissing

whales whose underwater tears transform into pearls
after twenty-seven years—plus, today, I am one whole

pearl and the first dusty form of a second sinking into
the ocean they call home. Car roofs …