Jersey Shore in January

Clutching paper cups of warmish coffee
we stand at the edge of the empty 
Asbury Park boardwalk.
Wind at our backs,
a seething Atlantic lashing
against the black rocks that punctuate
the cold, damp coast of New Jersey.
We do not ask, "Why have we come here?"
But we do wonder. It is just us
and the gulls. The hungry gulls
and us before a string of neon
taco shops locked up for winter. 
And where there was culture, nature.