after sunset

by joyce carol oates

from women whose lives are food, men whose lives are money

broken walls of waves

said to be the atlantic

sweep toward us

wave upon wave

so much is breaking

so much is happening

for centuries, here,

so much has happened

unrecorded

irretrievable

droplets of water

bubbles of bright flesh

we stand here

hypnotized

again and always

and once again, again,

hypnotized out of flesh

jarred by the earthquake

of the sea

we are waiting

for something

we are waiting

for something to record

how icy the shock on our bare feet!

a hundred yards away a vendor sells

stickers for the bumpers of cars:

the proclamation of the achievement

of the replication of--

the recording of--

we are waiting

again and always

and again, again,

stalkers of meaning

human and cold