to clamber up those cliffs

scolded by tide and sea mist, but,

in the end, feared more the ubiquitous poorhouse.

•

Some shells have eyes. All have mouth and anus

employed to move along. I’ve watched

a sand dollar drag its pattern in the silt,

a beautiful primal moment. In Mary’s time,

marked by the reign of a Queen,

even a twenty-foot fossil gave a woman no purchase.

•

Some shells leap out of water!

Some leap off a boat’s deck

back into a more kindred habitat!

Mary bought her own house

so she could properly dust and polish

the so-called curiosities that evolved into

patriarchal—I mean, paleontological import.

•

Not so odd that a soft fleshy creature

builds a stony home

—smooth, ribbed, warty, or spiny—

from a fold excreting particles of lime.

More strange is a creature of flesh

who can’t protect herself thus

regardless of cranium or cul-de-sac residence.

•

In her commonplace book, Mary transcribed

’Tis time this heart should be unmoved,

Since others it hath ceased to move . . .

and notes on physics and astronomy.

On large sheets of paper, she sketched the creatures

she could not present at London’s Geological Society

in person. On my typewriter, I exhumed

all sorts of impressions whether

prehistoric or from my childhood bedroom.

•

Although the warty professors visited her seaside home,

bartered then took credit for her finds

when all was done and said again

she who sold seashells found fossils

more stellar than a tongue twister,

having had the Black Ven as taskmistress.

•

envoy:

she-sells-seashells-on-the-seashore

sold the so-called curios

some have eyes

some coprolite

most have a door and a foot

some baby shells swim about

below the coastal cliff near her home

near bleeding-tooth and pelican foot

and their healing powers but

no one wants to puzzle over

an overhanging house or stony abode or

a funny tongue-twister but

with or without a charm

a little girl can fashion a mirror of her own

•••

Likeness

A Self-Portrait

Like Professor Sara Lewis I view the meadow as theater

for passion and yearning courtship duets

competitions for affection

cruel deception and gruesome death

Like the Professor fluent in firefly I am fluent in

on-the-fly and on-the-sly

when circumstances are well well lit

•

Like a female firefly I am remarkably picky

when checking out flashy males

because long-lasting pulses

mean a lot when it comes to say nuptial gifts

—packages of protein injected with sperm—

furthermore it’s crucial to pay attention

yes I tell my daughters

pay attention to attention

•

Unlike male fireflies

who do not need to burn many extra calories

to make flashes

because only a tiny bit of energy is needed

I do

burn a lot of fuel in the service of being flashy:

shimmying at Danceteria

acting-out at the Nuyorican

leafletting at Kentile

to overthrow The Man

•

And what can I say?

like the cannibal Photuris firefly that

pounces bites then sucks the blood

of the special other

for ill-tasting chemicals