Tide Pool, by James Thomas Fletcher

Tide Pool, by Cynthia Fletcher (USA) contemporary

​Tide Pool

Touchable and out of reach
the nautilus shell floats halfway
between your conscious and your imagination
in the speckled light. 
You are uncertain where the water ends
and the air above begins.

From the right, light breaks in 
revealing nebulous shapes embedded 
within the watery mass. The light
becoming shards swimming in turquoise,
blues, and greens, a imprecise emptiness
of white, and a hint of buried yellow.

Reflections diffuse into ripply segments
and the eye struggles to discover
what is offered and yet buried. 
Perhaps a jellyfish. Perhaps an illusion.
Perhaps the key you are seeking.

And all the while the sun
is lowering itself into the waves.

James Thomas Fletcher

James Thomas Fletcher has written short stories, plays, and screenplays, but favors poetry. He is married to the artist Cynthia Fletcher and, until recently, lived on the side of a volcano in the Republic of Panamá. His latest major poetry collection is Roses for the Canyon (2019). http://www.jamesthomasfletcher.com