8-20-01

Within, a sea cave

and the sunlight

melts through

the liquid stone

Together stems the tide

cures the winds

of their salt

lures loose

the nereid’s song

Within a hollow sigh

like the sound

trapped in a conch

mellow and indecisive

drifts side to side

to side, a battered hull

Together rages, a froth

from a deep vent

on the ocean floor

bubbles in a tight

stream of movement,

flow to madness

a school

of panicked silverfins

Within a shallow tidepool

sea urchins devoured

and the sea star

dying, on last legs

Together wraps around

a blanket of kelp

surges up and over

into memory from now

and the sweetest thing

is the sea lion’s roar