Standing on the Ocean

This was the blocking stick, this the flow card, that pan was a gold panner’s

tin, perforated. Tools today tune flows of wild whales too large to count. I

visit the social ills of my town and almost give up, or is it just because I’m

looking and cameras and data flood us with evidence too large to count?

Monday is marred by headless cubicles all out with colds, so we start out

behind. Reaches into the mixed nuts, goldfish, and bite-sized candy bars

caused this. Just count the germs. That was a joke. I paddleboard expecting

to rise on the back of a whale, a healthy heard you never see unless you go

to them, counting what you can’t see, unless you look for it, like the kid in

purchasing who’s working sick. Broke sitters in hospital lobbies wait for

news. I’m alone standing in the ocean, expecting a raise.

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Lawrence Bridges (he/him/his) is best known for work in the film and literary world. His poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, The Tampa Review, and Ambit. He has published three volumes of poetry, Horses on Drums, Flip Days, and Brownwood. He created a series of literary documentaries for the National Endowment for the Arts “Big Read” initiative, which includes profiles of Ray Bradbury, Amy Tan, Tobias Wolff and Cynthia Ozick. He lives in Los Angeles. You can find him on IG: @larrybridges