rounded stones of the shoreline
or a garden path glisten
many navy blue or nearly straw
others speckled with indecision
speckled, within and without
what grows hard as rock on a rock
nearly black stones exposing white ridges
to the light, blue veins, like mothers
slate-blue orb cleft with white quartz
some color of cooked lobster
glow of berries
in dull eddies
of clamshell or snout of rising seal
given an eye, the face of a cod or shark
approaching with its mouth closed
another burnt
and still burning
none yet look like washed potatoes
between them, broken mussels and sand
firm in clear brine
each retaining its shape, for now
Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see the full set of seacoast poems, click here.
Jnana's Red Barn 