For Kayleb Rae Can­drilli, as for many of us, the dra­mat­ic change of set­ting  –  in their case, the arrival at the coast fac­ing the grand Atlantic  –  can shift our sense of being in sig­nif­i­cant ways. For the poet, their affir­ma­tion ​“that lines are always chang­ing” brings a cer­tain com­fort. Even more sig­nif­i­cant is the epiphany that ends the poem: ​“the tide tells me/​my body can morph/​as many times as it needs.” ​“Sum­mer­ing in Wild­wood, NJ” cel­e­brates the flu­id­i­ty of our chang­ing human bod­ies by con­nect­ing them with the defi­ant flu­id­i­ty of nature. 

Summering in Wildwood, NJ

in a few days, i’ll be on a beach

so bright i can see the sun through my fingers,

each thin vein lit

up blue like a heron’s leg.

this poem is not so much about a beach

as it is about arriving,

blowing stop signs

until the coast affirms

that lines are always changing,

and the tide tells me

my body can morph

as many times as it needs.