the road — August 6, 2024

August 6, 2024. Field note. I walked the sand until the town stood up out of it — pastel facades stacked four, five stories deep, white edges sharp against a sky so blue it looked rinsed. A rocky promontory carried more buildings out into the water like the coast didn't want to end. That was the whole scene. I kept thinking how a coastline like this is really a slow negotiation — stone holding, sand giving, people building in the margin between. You don't notice the negotiation until you stand still in it. So I stood still a while.