Haunted by the depths
but afraid of mystery, we
classify unspeakables with
household objects,
nursery rhymes. A limpet
has a
keyhole;Jeather dusters,
sponges
suck the bottom clean.
Sea peach, olives,
lettuce slugs:
a grocer
stocks his coral shelves. Freak shows
slowly circle east: the
hairy
doris, warty
sea-cat, common baby's
ear
all turn a tawdry living.
Deeper, tonguing under-rocks, the
lunar dove snail
creeps a gold and
purple
jewel box,
regardless
of what moon he's named for, or any
thing but murk.
c.
DALE YOUNG
The Endless Cumulus
My
soul is an enchanted Boat
Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float
-Shelley
Red like the heart of a calcium flame,
the sun flickers at the horizon,
the sails of a clipper blown taut.
Sav-Ia-Mar: Shelley wanders the beach,
the sand flushed with twilight,
his skin bronzed, his hair blanched.
