On The Beach Poem by Colin Pickett

The pales contours of her body
sank into the image behind her; gray
waves and skies and sand
exposed her
red lips.

The wind froze time in a picture of
delicate light, and threw sand into the air,
creating a galaxy of bright silica
that then adorned her flesh like the stars
of a mortal night.

The auburn hair tangled with the driftwood.
Steel water washed her milky skin,
bringing snarls of seaweed between her fingers
and breasts. The heartless rhythm of sea and time
reduced her. From dust to dust, from
dust to sand, she returned to the land
as all must do. And the heartless rhythm, the beat of
the world kept itself alive.