Sunrise with Sea Monsters

by Michael Prior 

i.m. M.M.

Salt cinches the corners of her face.

Across the bay, smoke scales the cranes

posed like hammers above the panes.

This sun, this face,

a damp match tossed into a blaze,

alight, then gone: the diode’s morphine

drip. A wave smooths her face.
Across the bay, smoke scales the cranes.