The Sea Spreads Out Her Skirt
“But the sea, the sea in darkness calls”
The sea spreads out her skirt of corduroy
Silk. Saltiness and plushness made of wet
Lush velvet rise up when she clasps the joy
Of storms. Although she knows to play coquette
At times, her nature is a graver one.
Beneath the folds she wears deep underskirts
Which cover death and darkened galleon.
These layered crinolines know desperate spurts
Of smaller fish defying tentacles
And jaws. The depths connive to cast up smell
Of priestly offerings, like pentacles
Of sand dollars from oblivion’s swell.
..This all results in beauty of a hem
….Of breakers in a shoreline requiem.