On Display at Applebee's Fish

At first light the trawlers dredge the tidal flats,
scoop fat Coalhouse Cliffe Fort cockles.
Shells plucked, gloppy mud relinquish suck;
a sudden cloop, a cork wrench pop from sludge.

Heave the catch, trap emptying. The clop
of toenail shellfish hailing on the deck
Send them river ways past estuaries to Borough.
Fresh day hauls up her sails in passing,
a sloop bloats its canvas and sails

far out across the phosphor surface
where rockfish make their swift ascent
liberated from the stringy forest fronds of kelp,
streaking candescense; scorching the murk

Drift netting for vagrant fish
baiting brackish memories pulling
unconscious streams of dreamless plankton.
A saline crave in throat, a
gasp for neap tides