On a briny shore...

Tide pool

First replenished by

thrash of big water

hammering jagged reef

receding for a while

pulling away in service to the moon

revealing the serene

Here water lays in pockets and folds

Rocky lap of seashore

Aquaria naturalis

comes to simmer in the afternoon

then cools in the shadows

of fortress cliffs

Where steeps the life-broth

starfish gropes under purple stone

anemone spreads green tendrils

When shadows fall upon the pool

Little fishes dart

blinding fast into kelp leaf

stranded maiden’s hair

Where chiton grips the mossy rock

and hermit crabs climb on shards of lace

in periwinkle cones

and density of life is deepest deep

in a shallow pool

on a broken shore

in the waning light

of a salten day

Steve