Love Easily

Walking on beige lake-wall
focused on each pattern, each grain
of each rock at Belmont Harbor. My body
wanted to scream
out of its skin how deeply
I fell in love with their lives, endlessly
content with being beaten by Lake Michigan. I counted
each wave, each blow as they slammed against
the boulders screaming Remember Me! before
returning into themselves.

On the white smooth gravel
heading home, I had a moment in my head
about how crazy it might seem to Strangers
if I told them the lake-wall’s rocks had introduced themselves
to me and given me their names. A man walked
his bike on those same rocks, an affair I didn't mind.
"I was just seeing if I had the courage
to ride my bike up here," he said to me. He must've
seen me smile, and with that thought, I bloomed;
"Oh, please do." How silly we were
to feel ashamed of our love
for boulders.

Artwork courtesy of the author.