original utility by Lisa Lillibridge

walking Scusset Beach at low tide

we came upon a buried boat trailer

submerged and deserted

sadly, no longer transporting anything

no boat ramp nearby…curious

my sandy-kneed observations kept shifting

a salty adventure miscalculated perhaps?­

oh, the seduction of coastal fog

heightens my investigations

in ways sunshine just never can

later, observing my photos

what I could not see intrigued me

and my mind wandered

as it so often does…

America, personified

allegory, metaphor, or perhaps, punchline

in need of rescue and repair

while other nations

adapting to their shifting tides

ignore what’s beneath our surface

our nation’s collective principles

hopefully preserved

waiting to be exhumed

and one day

restored to original utility