15 August 2018

By Philip Kuepper

The opaque sea lay
still in the heat,
beneath a construction paper sky,
the opaque sea, like the scaly
skin of a fish, asleep
to being caught.  Upon it,
a boat, as though glued in place.
To have fished the sea
would have upset the boat.

Came a wave, like a pair of scissors,
cutting directly at the boat,
then broke to either side of it,
creating a tiny isle of calm.
The skin of the sea shivered
as the wave cut along its spine.

Glittered millions of scales,
wavelets,
as the skin was split,

and laid open,
rocking the boat to,
rocking the boat fro.

The sea was fishing the boat.

Philip Kuepper
5 July 2018)