.
for my
convenance
leopard
fundament winks
skirt
tuh die for
'blue'
strapless bikini top
(((pop)))
pardon mine
verbosity
(((yet)))
she wait'd
at thuh basin uv
hern hang
sea
for
my
excite
now that's thuh
tap
Don’t take for granite who you are
Just be a little boulder
Remember that you’re made of stars
And someday when you’re older
You may be a marble statue
That the pebbles gaze upon
And the world shale marvel at you
And of quartz you will rock on.
A mackerel sky fillets the village
then hides it in a breezeless blear.
Heads poke out of net drapes
sniff and fish behind trawling curtains.
Shopkeepers brace for
wet dog splatter and spray
for slopping boots and salty puddles.
On the sightless sea
far beyond the shore and shingle,
lost fog horns are lowing deep
like colicky cattle.
Later, misty reeks will be scoured
from groggy docks.
Hauling hands will rope together
tide-tossed tubs,
then tired feet trudge to taprooms
where the brackish parts
of codgers and young alike
can be oiled and quenched.
Sandstone, rough, gritty.
Shale. Cool, layered, shelved.
Beryl. Ugly but if you can keep it for a million years
You will have emerald and aquamarine from beryl.
I am staring at my piece now, watching it not change.
when you know yourself
there is no key
to things like wisdom
the gates to
a billion realities
the shade through time
we're shale people