In the Shadow of the Middle East
A Spare the Air Day
when public transit
offered free rides
on the house
the ferry fuller
than it’d ever been
caps turned backward
orange hair braids
digital cameras snapping
waves mixed with exhaust
on the hottest day of the year
so packed to the gills
we tipped backward and water-skied,
but once we passed
beneath the shadow of the bridge,
there we were
on the other side
of something we didn't know yet.