Baptism
Fukuoka, Summer 2011
Our
suited pastor,
standing in the ocean:
water
dark up to his thighs.
From the shore, he looks
like
a lone oyster buoy,
returning from a storm.
Kaylee
beside him:
an American sky-scraper.
Behind
them, a still horizon blue.
Strange, this water: the same
that
buried five cities, now
over Kaylee’s shoulders,
a
celebration. From the shore,
we the church stand, holding
our
shoes, feet bare
in the sand, waiting. Out east,
new
cities will be built.
Inside Kaylee, a renovated
city
is filled.
She rises from the water.