poetry: the view from the end by allie parker

I can still smell that night on the pier,

the salt that seeped into my clothes.

I can hear us walking in step with one another

on the weathered planks of wood

your hand around my waist, closer than usual.

You move me through the crowd,

under rows of soggy windsocks,

through vendors packing up weathervanes.

A fisherman pulls in his last catch,

it’s eyes flung wide in dry air.

I look away, somewhat haunted

by the thought of a living creature,

unable to close its eyes, forced

to see everything all the time.

You lead me to the end of the pier,

a wooden rail, the divide

between us and the groaning sea.

I look out over the darkness,

struck by the reflection

of a thousand pieces of the moon

dancing on jagged waves,

seeing only fractures of light,

bright enough to blind.

---

Allie Parker is a Los Angeles based actor, writer, and attorney.

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