There Is Wind – Jack B. Bedell

Yes, there is wind. And waves.
	For now, the ghosts of trees
and lines of reeds remain.
	The water, though, rises.
It warms. It rolls in like it
	always has. It eats away,
washes out, deposits sand
	somewhere else, somewhere
pelicans won’t be able to use it.
	The water leaves whole islands
places where they will not
	protect our shore. The water
carries its salt into new grass
	and tree roots until whole maps
loosen, coastlines untie, until
	wind and waves curve
over the horizon in every direction,
	and only the shadows of clouds
break the water’s surface.

Jack B. Bedell is Professor of English and Coordinator of Creative Writing at Southeastern Louisiana University where he also edits Louisiana Literature and directs the Louisiana Literature Press. His latest collection is No Brother, This Storm (Mercer University Press, fall 2018). He served as Louisiana Poet Laureate 2017-2019.