neap tide— spring
the middles english & littoral give up
their exes their wrack their holdfasts
their shelter feathers — put that
howl in my mouth
slow soft dazzle
there is nothing but
relentlessness — when the water takes
the foreshore the birds move up
the rocks — the fizzle of waves over
pebbles & shingle
≈ ≈ ≈
the ocean took the form of a curlew —
sorry a cormorant —
the ocean took
the form of my daughter
& held her up
& held her up
the ocean took the form of
my daughter — a cormorant
& held her up
& held her up
≈ ≈ ≈
ghosts of salt & frost on the rocks —
which word for hole
we’ll use depends upon
the lobster’s intent —
my son — his sunshine
halo well salted — sifts
pebbles shingle shells spirals & tells
me a pebble is 4 to 6.4 centimeters across
on the complicated relationship
between wrack & rack — see usage note
≈ ≈ ≈
& I have been inland a while
the virgin of the dry tree
the tidal shift is not
seamless — even
the neaps mark
circatidal margins
whelks fast during neap cycles
unknot the fishing rope to unrestrain
the wind — we were quizzed on the birds
we made flashcards of all the trees
≈ ≈ ≈
what if an old wife is what
is necessary to predict the weather
dried sugar kelp can predict the weather
for example — the rocks here winter
woven with it — crenulated — what if
an oyster allows you to safely swallow the sea
whole — a word like hair comes
tangled with associations with seaweed & swimming [i] — & held her up
the tender point of mean high water
that is a liquid shape too large to hold as a body
* * *
[i] Nicholas Allen, Ireland, Literature, & the Coast: Seatangled, page 207