Willie James

Surveying the Change of Tides

I stand at the edge of Ozette to glean,
off-handedly, the ghost I sometimes lean into,
coat wide open. It’s hard, goodbyes—the boats
tap the chains to their anchors and I
keep hearing: Gone. Gone. Gone.
I imagine the plastic umbrella I used to own
and the day its pole shoved beyond its wet
canopy. How it lifted, fighting the air, in flight.
Now the tide is rolling its shoulders
over the coast. Dormant creatures decide to leave
their homes, floating to the surface for the moon.
In this light, everything is just beginning to be
identified, labeled, loved. Waiting
here, trembling. I didn’t want to go.

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Willie James is a poet living in Chicago, IL. He is a poetry editor at Pacific Literary Review as well as the co-host for the Filling Station Reading Series. He was the runner up in Rhino’s 2017 Founder’s Prize poetry contest. His work has appeared in Rhino Poetry, Pageboy, as well as the Mantis Review.