Bladderwrack

Abercastell

In the bubbles of bladderwrack,

keeping seaweed afloat,

are bygone memories.

They don’t pop easily,

but, as the sun slips

down the back of the sea,

try making fire with a bunch

of salt-cracked woodsticks.

Chuck on dried bladderwrack.

When it’s popping bullets

out of the fire breathe in

a potpourri of the ocean:

the smell of wrecks, traders,

the stink of whalers, oil spills,

starfish, dogfish, jellyfish,

the breath of saints,

scents dragged

from the ocean floor

and kept

in these pockets of air

intense

sealed inside seaweed,

and now released hot

into this new century.