Today the Gulf of Mexico Is on Fire by Patrick Kindig
The ocean opens
its red eye & blinks:
another witness
in the age
of witness, another
natural thing made
man. Which is to say: silent
& intent
on watching itself
die. Some things
can be helped. Some
can’t. For example:
when sand
scratches your cornea,
you’re not supposed
to touch it.
All you’re supposed to do
is cry.
Patrick Kindig is assistant professor of English at Tarleton State University. He is the author of the micro-chapbook Dry Spell (Porkbelly Press 2016) and the chapbook all the catholic gods (Seven Kitchens Press 2019) as well as the academic monograph Fascination: Trance, Enchantment, and American Modernity (Louisiana State University Press 2022). His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in the American Poetry Review, the Cincinnati Review, Colorado Review, Washington Square Review, Copper Nickel, and other journals.