Staircase to the Moon

The locals call it a staircase--
or maybe that's just the tourist centers--
when the moon, large and swollen
with light, peaks over the horizon,
over the red mountains turned black
with the night, over the bays
that are more mud than brine
at the low tide. The light shines
across the water but cannot impact
the swaths of mud flats so thick
they can bog a quad or a truck
or an ignorant person in gum boots.

I don't see a staircase in the stripes
of light that lead to the moon,
but I do see a path stretched out
like a hopscotch game or a zebra
crossing from the moon in the sky
to the moon in the sea.