Almost sunset. The earth hangs by a thread. Now the sun is the sea. Now the dunes are an ocean swell. There are the whales that turn the crank to spin the world. There is the moon, with its expression of alarm. We could get lost, everything so glazed in stillness, even sound glazed, more tinny and brittle, our cries barely audible. The dog in the surf is watching its owner walk away. The surf is flat as a shimmering platter and the dog is just a speck running in silence then vanishing behind the point where the lighthouse is. And we’re walking away, now that it’s dusk and the day moving on, having forgotten why we came out to begin with. Having forgotten why we came out to begin with we’re walking away, now that it’s dusk and the day moving on. The dog that vanished behind the point where the lighthouse is is just a speck wagging its tail in silence in a surf that is flat as a shimmering platter. The dog is watching its owner walking away. Sound is glazed, tinny and brittle, our cries barely audible. We could get lost, everything so glazed in stillness. There is the moon, with its expression of alarm. There are the whales that turn the crank to spin the world. Now the sun is the sea, and the dunes are an ocean swell. It’s sunset, and the earth hangs by a thread.

Stop trying so hard. The shade is drawn; the shade opens. The coil of the outer cape tightens, the air liquid pearl, a gazing ball. A dog is just a speck. It runs in silence, wags its tail in silence, then vanishes behind the point where the lighthouse is. Who are we? Who are we? The sky hangs suspended, the wind turbine at Race Point Light is still. Then gulls take off in a clutch of feathers. A metallic sea and its blue tongue. They probe along the channels where the thatch of eel grass runs. The lips of the sea. The grass is a river. The straw the high tide left against the driftwood is a river. A fly’s life is as long as mine. The tide reaches out. I would be taken by it, but just for six hours, then let me return to being Janet, to being universe looking at itself.