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