We follow driftwood

mapping the beach like fallen
road signs, where unfinished bridges
stretch tidal pools and legends
of sailors once lured spill
across the shore like waves.

By sand dunes, heart cockles open,
vertebrae appear in driftwood,
the skeleton of a mermaid shifting
in shadows, her long green fins
of seaweed swimming back to the ocean.

by Kelli Russell Agodon