Meaning

The sea frothing at the edges of waves

and throwing the scent of salt into the air,

crystalline flakes floating from water to wind as salty feathers.

Grinding down the bones of the ancients with her teeth

into beads to line the coasts with a boundary of brittle shells,

buried amongst the sand as prizes for hands and daggers for feet.

Shepherding white-throated whales and their calves

listening to a choral of whistles and moans from broad gullets

wearing limpets as badges of survival from long harpoons.

Claiming land by gnawing on cliff edges until they tumble to sit

as rocks below her knees and leave barbed-wire fences to hang

Playing with boats to bring salted water into the eyes and lungs of

men & women, catching the last breaths of floating bodies with

her palms open and facing upwards, crossing right over left for

her holy communion, the dark depths as her altar.