Tears Are Saltwater [poema]

The bridge is at a standstill

Protestors cast their keys before them
   Over the steel railing
      Into the bystander Bay
         To be swallowed by sturgeon
            And checked over by crabs

Imagine that chirping in the background
   The unexpected result
      Of deep-water exoskeletal investigations

Halfway across the world atrocities continue unabated

As Dungeness poke at newfound fobs
   As headlights flash on and off unconsidered
      And batteries slowly die
         Their future corroding away
            By the minute

We wait, hoping for the slack tide to return