Seaweed on the Rocks: a Poem and a Reflection
by Martin Potter
spirit of waves and weed
fan-spread out but hard back-draw
hair-pulling the rock’s weed
the sands slip again wave-rolled
rust-weeds flail strained and furrowed
and their blistered plasticity
captive sway with water rhythms
when the tide leaves them air-dry
slow-crisping by sun’s bite
sea-beasts shed to rock brine-pools
a limited desolation and awaiting
finger-splay wavelets’ return
touching the ribbon forest wetly
bringing salt to the brew
their animation to weak stems
Uncanny analogies haunt the coast, where natural geometries are uncovered, a lunar calendar governs the waters’ time, and creatures live in ways unseen on land. Nevertheless the life-forms are supported by the same elements as elsewhere, while making different patterns of them. We wander out to the shore’s edge with a sense of precarity, knowing that the welcome is not extendable without limits.
Martin Potter (https://martinpotterpoet.home.blog) is a British-Colombian poet and academic, based in Manchester, and his poems have appeared in Acumen, The French Literary Review, Eborakon, Ink Sweat & Tears, The Poetry Village, and other journals as well as in Black Bough anthologies. His pamphlet In the Particular was published in 2017. His academic interests include David Jones, Henry James, theology and literature, and aesthetics.