I found the day’s first

fossilized tooth

hiding among pebbles

where salt water

worries sand

on Casperson Beach.

I traced the jagged

edge on my palm, while

nearby, a girl,

maybe seven years old,

wearing pink plastic sunglasses

piled sand into a mountain

and shouted to her mother,

I thought you said

all the teeth would be gone

if we didn’t get here in time.

I have my own questions

about permanence. I look down,

sift through sand,

hunt for clues.

Randi Lynn Sanders lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida, where she maintains her own financial advisory practice while honing her craft in her spare time, usually before or after market close. Randi’s poems can be found in The Florida Review, Saw Palm, Oberon Poetry Magazine, Your Daily Poem, and Muddy River Poetry Review among other places.