Beetlebung and Kettlehole--April Poems

The Clam

The resolute shellfish,
closing itself,
as if to reject air,
or to deny any exchange
of meaning with the eels.
It thinks it can live like this
with the hardness of its crust
hiding its inner softness,
so private only the pearl finds out
when it rents its cushy
apartment for its weighty body
to sink in
to mark its days
until the clam digger
breaks through
its lustrous slumber.