A siren two miles away wounds
On a sunny afternoon
While we idly wander agate beaches;
We come home to find a neighbor
So decrepit he barely squeezes into his care,
Yet there to tell us there’s a severe
Thunderstorm warning for all of Luce County, even us
The northernmost extreme (by many standards).
We would never see such behavior where we live;
People there skulk, arrange playdates for toddlers,
worry over college placements
for pre-personhood five year olds,
Here the focus is life now and if the shit flies
Everyone has a stake, this a small
Reminder of why this part of our state
Differs from big towns and cities. Here
Numbers are small, but each life writ large.