Christian Wessels
The Sharks at Memory Motel
1
Coastal Erosion: Solution—
the Montauk town council
screened an activist’s film at the lighthouse,
a landmark near the end of this country
barred for restoration.
On site the local news reported
an epidemic of seals
halved by sharks in the tide,
this habitat non-native for apex predators.
2
A Facebook advertisement lured
your mother, near retirement
in the Black Forest, to read about
shark attacks on the south shore
where we camped (I camped
for the first time, embarrassingly,
at my unreasonably adult age
and with a broken leg)
and message you with panic at those hours
when no one checks their phones.
Around midnight, I picked the sand flies
from your clothes, your hair, the tent.
3
I’d like to go back and climb
the lighthouse tower.
We’ll cut the protective tape at the stairwell
with your pocketknife: “Do not enter”—
and I’d like to book a presidential suite
blocks away from the ocean, but
can we afford to travel
so close to the end?
4
I will build a mountain indoors for us to hike.
I will stockpile our couch, TV, the bowls
of potpourri, and near the summit climb
closer to the uninhabitable atmosphere
than what’s allowed, and I will love you
as I have loved you outside of this poem:
as I have loved you outside of this poem,
speaking with my mouth full, but open.