The Lugworms’ Lament

Foam of sun-sparkled
morning tide silvers sea-side
beachcombers’ treasures:

wave-whipped windswept strands
strewn with jettisoned jewels,
jelly encrusted
with shell grit and grains of sand.

Brackish bladderwrack,
entangled like rubber bands,
vesicles gasping,
protuberant thyroid glands,
flutter flirty flimsy fronds,

release gametes
in a dioecious dance
of fertilisation.

All the while we humble lugworms,
the artistic architects
of small, intricate casts, ripple
across shoreline space,
never meeting face to face:

lonely males scatter
passionless cloudy puddles,
washed by waves into shallows,
where we coy females pause in furrows.

© Kim M. Russell, 2016

Images found on  www.telegraph.co.uk  and www.seaangler.co.uk

My poem for dVerse Poets Pub Open Link Night #181, where Mish is our host. She has been pondering October and the way time flies, and shared a poem by Carl Sandburg called ‘Autumn Movement’, which is a reminder of the brevity of this season –  a poem I wasn’t familiar with and which I’m so pleased I am now.

I’ve kind of mixed all three of the recent prompts in my poem, with a smattering of cubism, some razzle dazzle and arrangement.

 

40 thoughts on “The Lugworms’ Lament”

  3. We are headed to the beach in two weeks–family & friends celebrating my wife’s birthday, our 13th annual get-together. Your very interesting piece does combine several recent prompts, & yes, the alliteration works like gangbusters.

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  6. I love the treasures and gems from the beach Kim ~ As well as the dance of your dazzling words:

    flutter flirty flimsy fronds ~

    Wow on weaving up all the 3 prompts, smiles ~

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  9. I love these sections:

    “jelly encrusted
    with shell grit and grains of sand.
    Brackish bladderwrack,
    entangled like rubber bands,
    vesicles gasping,
    protuberant thyroid glands,
    flutter flirty flimsy fronds”

    “the artistic architects
    of small, intricate casts”

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    Reply

    1. Thank you, Maria. I’ve been wanting to write about lugworms for a while – I’d jotted down some notes – and it just came together with the bladderwrack! I’m hoping to get to the beach again this weekend.

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    1. Thank you, Sanaa! Sorry I didn’t get around to reading yours yet – I’ll have to go back and read some more later on – I’ve got a busy day today. I’ve popped back for an hour or so and then I’m out again until this evening. I’m looking forward to getting a quiet moment to read this weekend 🙂

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    1. Thank you, Jane. I used to be fascinated by worm casts – I suppose I still am. There’s nothing like a flat beach after the tide has gone out and exposed all its treasures.

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  14. Love this poem. I so enjoy the workings of the most humble of the sea creatures. Sure the conch and whelk shells, the scallops, the cockles get all the attention as do the oysters, but I loved this take on several prompts that worked together so very well!

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