It starts with the sweetest
contaminant masks: hound’s-tooth,
hummingbirds & hibiscus. The tagline:
Breathe us in on Instagram. It starts
with Instagram, the masks modeled
near skateboards and gold-light
palmettos. It starts with a sister’s
call from the car: all these trees
down from last night! In the backseat
the kids holler-sing. The weatherman
looks surprised by the tornado in Baltimore.
In Stanhope. In Bucks County, PA.
Strange days, folks. It starts with a gone
jetty. Gone campsite. Gone silo. It starts
with did you see. With still? again?
It starts with I could swear it wasn’t always.
It starts and keeps starting.
With a sidebar headline and a bummer
of a vacation week—no ocean this year,
sorry, kids. But let’s not make it
worse with worry. We’ll play more
mini-golf. We’ll still have a good time.