NaPoWriMo day 20. The prompt is in the form of a challenge to write a poem that uses at least five of the following words:
owl, generator, abscond, upwind, squander, clove, miraculous, dunderhead, cyclops,
willowy, mercurial, seaweed, gutter, non-pareil, artillery, salt, curl, ego, rodomontade, elusive, twice, ghost, cheese, cowbird, truffle, svelte, quahog, bilious
So, here goes...
An Entomologist on Calshot Beach
Low spring tide, salt receding,
Exposing mud and sandy shingle
To the unfamiliar air,
And the careful scrutiny
Of a roving entomologist,
Peering into seaweed groves,
To see what skips and darts and wriggles,
A fine bright day that’s not to squander,
With such invertebrates to ponder.
A nereid worm, all vivid green,
Thrashes back to towards the sea,
Chitons – armoured, primitive,
Lurk elusive in the shell
Of an old grey quahog-clam,
Companion to a youngling brittle-star,
Bristle-legged, disc-bodied,
Rippling its way into a quiet crevice,
While anemones waft stingingly,
Awaiting waves’ swift life-resurgence,
Until then, tentative emergence,
Of tentacles that fear dying
In the sun’s unwelcome drying.
Shore crabs scuttle, sideways-scurry,
Carrying some tasty morsels,
Past the white translucent ghost,
Of one of their crustacean host,
While amphipods, their shrimp-like kin,
Take a chance and quick, nip in,
Snicker-snack, a tiny pincer-bite,
Nothing’s wasted – once, twice, thrice,
Then back beneath an algae’d stone,
To feast upon the treasured prize.
But all too soon the evening looms,
And with the last few low sun-rays,
Comes reassertion by the inexorable tide,
So farewell squat-lobster, pipefish, blenny,
Gnarly oysters (though not many),
Ruff-gilled sea slugs, cockles too,
Yellow sponges, sea-squirts blue,
Miraculous diversity,
Of species in the world marine,
I leave now, notes noted,
Boots salt-washed,
Camera brim-full of photos,
And promise to return.
