the lighthouse near my house has been painted in the last year. the peeling tower topped with red and the green trim with a bright white base is now as i imagine it was when it was finished in 1870. over 120 feet tall it carried its circling light out to ships passing through 'shipwreck alley' for a hundred years before it was automated.

fog—
road home
a little longer

now it is a gps signal that it carries to ships that sink very infrequently now due to weather and location monitoring advances. it now sends its signal out to small planes as well that fly in the area. but there is a comfort in its presence even to this day. children climb its steps to the top and can see our neighbor canada on a clear day. when the weather rolls in suddenly as it still does that flash of light from the now automated tower is still there. I feel the pull of the past. ships that went down are still within the reach of the light. the risks that were taken trying to outrun a storm on the great lakes of those years past still weigh on the lighthouse park where children now swing on swings in a giant sandbox.

wet street
I ride through
the moon

Poems by Adjei Agyei-Baah
Prose by Mike Rehling