Sea Poem

Cowrie shells like gnocchi on the shore
Are sloshing saline mouthwash with each wave.
And waves are white-tipped fingernails that claw
At starfish that retreat into dark caves.

And pebbles stand like solid, silent souls,
Immutable and timeless in grey graves.
But most are hard and cold and devil-sold -
They weather steadfastly the wildest waves.

Seaweed sprawls like bubble-wrap on rocks,
Wafting dead hair in the shallow pools.
Its leaves are snakes with gulped mice in green pocks,
Its skin is leather-tough and waxy-cool.

And if a god exists, it painted this
But, sulking, must have soused it in the sink
Because the sky's a washed-out, murky mist,
The sea, a retching stomach full of ink.