Sea Palling is sinking
where the coast describes
a long arc into mist.

Sandbanks menace the lanes;
a mizzen’s target practice for gulls.

Water sweeps in faster
than a man can run

so for a while
you might read the crabs’ fine print
or eel runics

until the tide’s authorship
has the last word. No boot print is drawn here

and the staked defences shall be
humbled

like the mariners
who’ve inscribed their foundered souls
or a sack of wet clothes on the sand

for waves to wipe clean.


Robert James Berry lives and writes in Auckland, New Zealand. He's been published widely, including in TDR. His second volume Stone is due out in late this year from Ginninderra Press, Canberra, Australia & a third volume Seamark in 2005, from Steele Roberts Publishers, Wellington, New Zealand.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Nous remercions de son soutien le Conseil des Arts du Canada.