Shattered clam shell fragments
pave the crescent shore
unset mosaic tiles
Barnacle cone houses
and soft-skinned
bladder wrack bulbs
pinky-width to the big toed
hard-hatted clams
They are scarred but unbroken
by the hammer-fisted sea
Elaine Woo is a poet/librettist and nonfiction writer. Her work is found in Arc Poetry Magazine, V6A, The Enpipe Line, Ricepaper, Shy: An Anthology, Megaphone Magazine and many other publications. Her first full poetry collection, Cycling with the Dragon is forthcoming from Nightwood Editions.