Produced by Dennis Camire

This week’s poem is by David McCann of Higgin’s Beach.

 

Sand

By David McCann

 

above the river,

dry, white, bits

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of eelgrass, barks

under the feet like a seal;

 

to be distinguished from the beach

sand in all discernible ways the same

without the bark.

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Wet expanse of tide’s reach

smooth, here dull, there

a film of water

reflecting beach-goers, birds, rocks.

 

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Runnels, beach draining

into the waves,

stand and they wear away beneath the feet

in the down rushing.

 

A different substance, coarse,

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flecked with bits of shell, stone,

or wet, like the dough the feet tread three inches

deep at each step and stop

 

has a salt marsh smell

by the river, of marsh mollusk gull,

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where a crab shell turns

over and over in the current.

 

Dennis Camire can be reached at dcamire@cmcc.edu

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