Bill, I know you loved driving down to the sea
from that crazy river-abounding town,
as all things that flow—and all things flow
quoth Heraclitus—ineluctably must. So here I be
on this beach doing what I like doing best
(because I too, pressed by the mouths I feed
and wearied by work, have turned from poesy,
which is to say it has abandoned me):
I am stacking one red rock atop another,
taking them as they come, fitting them snug
with no chisel or hammer, giving to each face
a bit of batter, so that one stone supports
the stones it leans upon and settles firm
against the hearting. Which is a stupid
futile stay against entropy, since even
the cliffs at my back are one good storm
from crumbling, but fuck it, Bill, it should
withstand at least one tide, and it served
no sensible function in the first place, now did it?