A STONE ON WULLICAW BEACH

You can feel it when your
hand finds me, sandy fingers
digging me out of wet earth-

My skin carries the inverted
fingerprints of the ocean-
my life story, my history, written in
the native language of the world-

You can feel the strokes of the churning sea,
the tempo of the in-and-out, the rolling dance,
the collisions and cacophonies that brought
me here, and then left me behind-

I lived a generation on Wullicaw Beach,
in a hollow that fills with salty water
during high tide, and dries slowly
over long summer evenings-

I nearly forgot the weightlessness,
the anger of the currents, the honest hope
that comes with life in the roaring deep-

and then my journey met yours,
just long enough for you to turn me
over in your palm and throw-

Michael Hill was born and raised in upstate South Carolina. He has a screenwriting degree from Western Carolina University and currently lives in Indian Land, South Carolina with his wife and son. He has published a number of poems and short stories in regional journals and also creates comics with his brother, artist R. Case Hill.