Fine Lines
Standing at the edge of the sea is exhilarating. This is the meeting place of terrestrial and marine life, where two ecosystems intertwine.
Jeffrey C. Domm, Canada’s Atlantic Seashore
i. Northern Rock Barnacle
.
Mouth at top
is closed during
low tides’
.
(Slow rush,
tongu-
ing…)
.
ii. Eyed Finger Sponge
.
‘Branches have small
holes, or “eyes”’
.
(Wave, hand
staring back
at you…)
.
iii. Northern Quahog
.
‘Interior of shell
milky-white
with purple
stain’
.
(Quahog Grail,
bloodstain
rim)
.
iv. Samphire
.
Salad days
(no takers?) –
.
‘Succulent stem and
branches, bright
green in spring’
.
v. Maritime Garter Snake
.
‘Rests very
still in the sun,
collecting warmth’
.
(What beggar
could choose
more?)
.
vi. Piping Plover
.
‘…nest in a
depression…’
.
(How many
of us dare?)
.
Sean Howard is the author of five books of poetry in Canada, most recently Unrecovered: 9/11 Poems (Gaspereau Press, 2021). His poetry has been widely published in Canada, the US (including North of Oxford), UK, and elsewhere, and featured in The Best of the Best Canadian Poetry in English (Tightrope Books, 2017).
.
.
North of Oxford 