Ghost Crab Redux

By Claire Millikin

Grandfather is watching a movie in Tifton, Georgia.
The defunct screen of the drive–in cinema
becomes an entire sky.
He is watching a movie about the war
he fought and in his mind he sees this war
more clearly than the stars.

Into the nearby river, ghost crabs swim
seeking oxygen. Remember, ghost crabs are not ghosts
in real life they are animals, anima, souls.

Grandfather is watching the Perseids on the blank screen
of the defunct drive–in theater, stars alight,
ghosts from this war he so early fought
for him it will never end.

The ghost crabs ascend, through sand
at evening, they rise, el spiritus sancti.

For me, it’s always a mile back to the surface.
It’s said that for sinners to be justified
takes such burning as turns
the whole idea of light
galactic and cold,
a gold field unearned.