with the last page
of the newspaper
and work backwards
I like to begin
with non-splashy articles
tiny creature stories
not what the waves
wash up and scatter
for all to pick up and see
but just beyond
the tidal line
where the quiet
struggles of kindness
failure and love live
in the rise and fall
of luck and fate
those small-boned lives
that sway back and forth
with the tides and
hover in perpetual dusk
until a tragedy pushes
one into the current
throwing it onto
page one or two
or more likely
sweeping it into the deep