Message

with Kathryn Ross

Along the beach
we're gathering
bits of string, rope,
fish bait packaging,
candy wrappers - two,
a piece of plastic, sand-scraped,
only just blue

And a message
sent by bottle that day
A colony of mollusc
Adapted to this smooth,
machine-made surface,
washed onto the shore

A slow invasion

Enclave of creatures,
their science fiction
features writhe
smaller than our fingers
larger than life

Life as we know it
One man's trash
and all that

If the sea cannot
swallow you,
the sea will
give you back

Written with Kathryn Ross