River And Sea

Late summer fatigue, the day by turns
cool and close: a pause in the season as if
a regathering before further tides
of heat. Mirror-hulls course with glass nets —
light's volatile etching. A lone bather
gasps at the river's sting, plunges towards
clay mined with a metropolis of crabs.
At noon, gulls whiten peninsulas of
basalt, the sea is a shimmering plain.
Around me, gold pebbles grow into
boulders then silken folds rolling shorewards.
An armada of minnows sculpts a wake of
blown-glass petals as they feed at the surface:
lizard tongues tipped with moonlit eyes.