Chesapeake, VA 09/14/16

waiting in traffic for the drawbridge to go down over the intracostal
waterway
                  at the great bridge locks

                                                  i came to a stop, in a low spot of the road
                  a spot that is impassable during heavy rains
                  a spot where the marsh stretches out when swollen,
                      in an attempt to reclaim its hardened appendage of asphalt

i inhale the scent of mud from the marsh and know the tide is out
                              the earth, heavy and pungent, fills me on a cellular level
this richness stirs something inside of me and i am wading in the sound
                                             with the egret by my side
                                                            black & gray silt pushing between our toes

when i notice all the other drivers around me, with their windows up
; talking on cellphones
                  oblivious to the early morning’s warm bouquet
                                        (moist, dense and sensual—the essence of existence)
being filtered-out through car air-conditioners to render a sterile
               dry coolness, free of wonderment

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