What Now

Jacob Griffin Hall

The roads have closed for flooding. 
The rows of cars are marbled in a mist. 
Watching gulls dive-bomb 
the waves behind the pier, the only thing 
that’s left for me is gratitude. 
Thank you for this. 
Thank you for the landscape
that’s not yet turned to dust, 
the wet gusts filled with clumsy birds 
and hints of sunlight,
and me, soaking wet as well, 
allowed by the grace
of what flesh
to watch.

Copyright © 2022 by Jacob Griffin Hall. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 29, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.