they are learning to read;

the lexicon of rod & line,

 

the breath of tide, the kiss

of breeze, of bream knock

 

& crab, the cadence of weed,

the cautious enquiries

 

of thumb-print perch,

the heft of a ray’s reluctant

 

wings, set anchored & corpse-

heavy, the slalom run of a loom-

 

shuttle shark, the lazy cod,

the tarpon’s slick violence,

 

the thrill of the strike,

the sanctity of losses.