{"id":1496,"date":"2011-12-15T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-15T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=1496"},"modified":"2024-10-10T12:31:56","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T16:31:56","slug":"in-irenes-wake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/in-irenes-wake\/","title":{"rendered":"In Irene’s Wake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
You spun yourself<\/em> You tossed your arms<\/em> You left us with only the veil<\/em> This poem was published in the Holiday 2011<\/a> issue of Coastwatch.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
From thick strands of salt water<\/em>
And a fever in the tropics, wove<\/em>
Your fabric coarse<\/em>
Around the edges, your eye<\/em>
Opening like a net<\/em>
Cast over Cape Lookout.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
And pulled the sound over us<\/em>
Heavy as a widow’s shawl<\/em>
And we watched the water skirt<\/em>
Up our streets, dragging boats<\/em>
From anchors, ripping live oaks<\/em>
And cedars from the seams of the earth.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of midnight for cover, scraps of glass<\/em>
And plywood scattered like ashes<\/em>
Over our lawns. You left us<\/em>
With morning, a day<\/em>
To set things right, the gauze of sunlight<\/em>
Settling over us.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n