Is There an Innocence

From the raw hazard of beach a woman or man

In shirtsleeves reprimands the swaddling sea’s prodigious

Voice repeating the refrain of water teething plankton

Leftover plants wash up and seagulls arrive in voice

Sense of hearing claims and comes to own

The ocean we imagine and the ocean alive

Is there an innocence one can learn to wear outdoors

Some fair trade of civilization for treasure

Thought occurring in senses voiced touched and sung

Syllables nudged into memory as sure as

This beautiful accidental bird voyaging beyond

The point of being seen or known defining place

As though a child grasping at syllables one at a time

Discerned by safely hovering authority

Sheila E. Murphy. Work in Poetry, Hanging Loose, Fortnightly Review, and others. Most recent book: Permission to Relax (BlazeVOX Books, 2023). Gertrude Stein Award for Letters to Unfinished J. (Green Integer Press, 2003). Hay(na)ku Book Award, Meritage Press (2018). Resides in Phoenix. Her Wikipedia page can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Murphy