65


             the Omniscient Mussel
              was rinsing its hinge
                      in a thimbleful
                             of Pedigree
                          listening
  to a Jackson Brown tribute act
                      called Snow Patrol
an oar enters the water noiselessly
 disentangles a knobbly stir of weed
          pushes a wobbling dimple
   back into nodding & dazzling plain
              every mind-map becomes
            sandcastles after two days
          & nights out in the rain
                          I resume
                my distance learning
                 course on absence
                     management
              by evening a thin
      skin forms on each
          idea & shivers





August 2009         Norfolk