at ink level, the sea
Here on the writing desk of the earth The sun goes down quickly at ink level. Soon the stony outcrop will be a blob Of light blue and the sky will be pale As the tissue rises. Is it time to go in Or is it time to go outside? Only time
Will tell me how the levels rise – Phrases cluster on the sunlit page, So many oyster-catchers thread the surf, Their needlepoint becomes pale green. Water is near, shale bursts in applause, Gulls congregate on a drifting raft.
Am I going out or coming in with the sea? Not everything is blessed by the promise Of water: your book on birds Is soaked by the wash, ink grows pale In its buckled galleys. From the Hellespont Of a paper clip, Leander swims to me.
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