oyster shell bleached clean sand sculpture of the Pietà
any bestial skeleton Moby Dick Noah’s dove
God’s faded claims broken mens’ room urinal
my wife’s summer nail polish polka dots on her tank top
swoosh on my Nike running shoes face of my wristwatch
terrycloth sweat band life guard tower parking space
divider lines cooler than the asphalt lot they were painted on
Albino shark at the aquarium barnacles part of a flounder
eye outside the iris butcher paper at the fish mart waitress
apron straw in our piña coladas napkins clapboards
of our bungalow old-fashioned enamel stove Ajax
T-shirt on Mr. Clean beneath the sink Kosher salt
surf board stripes picket fence lettering on the
Nesting Plovers sign flowers of the beach rose
certain butterflies sticky sap from a milkweed stem
the unabridged privilege of my skin
“THERE’S NO THROUGH TRAIL” —HAN-SHAN, TRANSLATED BY GARY SNYDER
Seascape #112: Whiteness
by Grey Held
Issue: Spring/Summer 2021
About Grey Held
Grey Held is a recipient of an NEA Fellowship in Creative Writing and winner of the 2019 Future Cycle Poetry Book Prize. Three books of his poetry have been published: Two-Star General (BrickRoad Poetry Press, 2012), Spilled Milk (WordPress, 2013), and WORKaDAY (FutureCycle Press, 2019). Grey is a literary activist, who through civic involvement connects contemporary poets with wider audiences. www.greyheld.com
Cold Mountain Review is published once a year in the Department of English at Appalachian State University. Support from Appalachian’s Office of Academic Affairs and College of Arts and Sciences enables CMR’s learning and publications program. The views and opinions expressed in CMR do not necessarily reflect those of university trustees, administration, faculty, students, or staff.