Something to Believe - July 7, 2021

mom and I stop and sit on a bench

at the end of a crooked old finger

of a long dock that sticks out

over the Chesapeake Bay

an old guy in a wheelchair

stares out over the rolling waves

points at two huge gray tankers

Coal dust he says

they use it for medicine

puzzled mom and I share a glance

no doubt a story of mixed

facts warped by a mind that

shuffles time like a deck of cards

a fresh breeze turns the warm day

back to idyllic and I close my eyes

to the idea of black powder in pills

and let the wind tell me

something I can believe