Where the City Meets the Sea
All roads lead to nowhere
Slim, breakable paths upon the coast.
A cluster of silver by the sand.
The line where the city meets the sea Is
very straight
Like an angry man’s gaze
Toward those he hates.
Arid quadrants of flaking forests,
Trees all raked toward the towns
Which are pulled to
The people who are drowned in
The water which is decided by
That cruel moon which we all
In equal parts circle.
Cloudy and out of orbit
They dig to find the before
And leave nothing behind
To unbury
Once this all passes.
Washed away by waves
And waves saluting
The rising fog
And the sinking sun which abandons
The sinking ships
And the masses of people praying,
Leaning into the water
Where the city meets the sea
The digging continues.
The townspeople spare
A second’s glance to the red mist
Of final breaths’ dance
And their cries against apathy
Become cries pathetic
Which become unheard
As they’re swallowed
By the sounds of drilling.
Their worn bones become the sand The
town’s children dream
Of in their kid-sleep.
And so the coast grows
Larger, and the coast grows
Longer, and more of the grown-ups
Learn to love
The growing beach of tawny tombs
In that place
Where the city meets the sea.
The Whole World Is a Never-Ending Wave in a Sea as Large as My Eye
The sea never disappoints.
Free man, you will always find
It hollowing your mind
Over eons. The lulling of a constant
Destruction. ‘Power through frequency,
Not force,’ I tell you. An ocean of
Tranquility lives forever in the mind,
And from its foam this notion springs:
Art exists only in the mouth.
It does not last in the flesh. And
So you search. You search in lust
And so-called sin, in the body
And in wine, in the shared warmth
Of your kin. But, everything, all
Horrors and all miracles, are found
Within the one assurance
Of existence: yourself.
Revered ashes defied mortality,
Making themselves into masterpieces
Before the decay and before waking
Away. "Just sleep if off" you’re told,
“And let it walk.”
Sofia Melka is a writer in Prague. Her work is forthcoming in 101 Words and Verse of April. Her TEDx Talk has been included in the TEDx 2023 ”Editor's Picks" playlist.
