New Ground

for Marley

New Ground
for Marley

We hit low tide by their measure 

when our one wet summer passed at

tomato sill pace

vivid and persistent

against a backdrop of gray. 

They weren’t wrong exactly 

but after you arrived 

starry with sea fathom depths 

your earth color gaze held new ground

like those northern summer nights—

both measured and immeasurable, focusing

a mind who still makes her own tides 

pulling the drape on a midnight gloam sun

revealing a world ebbed with soft edges

making stars not lies exactly

but without the crisp lines of snow and ice 

set against deep drafts of inky night

like wet summer tomatoes

neither are they certain. Instead

tidelines track as each day felts 

into gloaming, vivid and persistent

suggesting that perhaps beyond

every measure

another option exists.