When the water recedes
Nicol Stavlas




1.
we are startled by the stones
which should have been
softened by the pant and lap
of the waves

but they are sharp still
and we stumble at the lick
of their points

2.
we are left
salt spray in our noses

and drying up our arms
patching our skin

   
        *          *          *

When the water recedes

1.
A line runs across the house
marking a damp horizon

and below it, the drowned
plants crackle brittle brown

2.
thousands of jellyfish
splayed out on the shoreline
tentacles like bike streamers

the soft wet candy of their bodies
panting, like the waves
that do not lap close enough

3.
We are left