At Point Lobos
we walk along paths abutting steep drop offs,
watching beachgoers and surfers down below
and bonding over our disdain for beach days,
people who spend all their vacations at Disney,
coffee drinkers, running, and religion.
we take no pictures of ourselves—
just the harbor seals, the black birds mistaken
for penguins from afar, the fog hanging low
over the fauna, obscuring the ocean’s breadth.
i already know when i look back on this moment
i will remember it as one when nothing else
mattered besides being here with you.
when we take a shortcut to the car,
you hold my hand as i squeeze through
the barbed wire fence, and i don’t want to leave.
…
This poem is from the chapbook Nothing Good Will Get Away by Chelsea Dodds (Finishing Line Press), and can be found at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/nothing-good-will-get-away-by-chelsea-dodds/
Chelsea Dodds is a writer and teacher from Connecticut. She holds an MFA from Southern Connecticut State University, and her writing has been published in The Forge, Maudlin House, Rejection Letters, Poetry Super Highway, Sixfold Journal, and the 2024 Connecticut Literary Anthology (Woodhall Press). When not writing, Chelsea can usually be found hiking, practicing yoga, or planning her next road trip. You can read more of her work at chelseadodds.com, and follow her on Instagram @chelseawanders_ and TikTok @chelseawrites_
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