#2041 - the sea is full of time

2041

6.214

2.viii.25

the sea is full of time

ekphrastic for Alfred Wallis’ 1928 ‘St Ives’

 

here is the River of Ocean run round

a salt breath barnacle careen

 

the sea is a circus of juggle

washed up

we lean to it ashore

in chimney rigging

 

a lamp dark scratch, the town

 

some sailor rests bones on the floor

 

are we not all caught up in the catch?

 

here’s wave the whale’s ridden

land’s tongue tied

 

some will say sea’s a machine

still days the night falls to

 

the sea is under lock and key

there isn’t an eye looks out