channel black

Inlet into from
the way a river does,
the mouth of a black dog
lapping
at the bowl of the bay.

The same kid
always wins at monopoly,
shows up in the right
wrong places,
another makeshift town

tucked in his pocket.
Fog, that thief,
unravels landscape,
changes the rules,
watches the bank,

chasing an orange dog,
a crown,
a boat with a single oar,
a bigger boat,
the rising tide.

Channel Black by Valerie Lawson 

Image via Sabino