low on the shore — crab cam
— rocks distinct in the early bright
a drape of sea lettuce — perfectly greened to please a child
and water gif-looped
like breathing // cold, clear and flowing
like our knowledge;
the sky and the land
some Edenic afterthought.
Image: c/- Inala Nature Tours (of Bruny Island, Tasmania). With apologies to Elizabeth Bishop, At the Fishhouses. A quadrille (44 words) for Dverse, where De is hosting and asks us to look ‘skywards’.
And for a bit of meditative drift (with a Modern Country twang) here’s American guitarist William Tyler with some Highway Anxiety (it’s a pretty fabbo film too).
Peter Frankis writes 
great music clip
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Isn’t it? Heard him on the Tower of Song – and the album – Modern Country is worth a listen too.
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❤️
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…perfectly greened to please a child *(or the child in us)*. I’m still fascinated by the deepness of green. Lovely poem, Peter.
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This line did it for me
“a drape of sea lettuce”
It’s brilliant in its description and gives a sense of casual beauty to the scene you’ve painted with your words. Like the simple act of breathing…and then you juxtapose it with those words “cold, clear, flowing” that to me, are so refreshing. Eden indeed.
Would that our knowledge and the world’s humanity be so clear and flowing! 🙂
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A lovely slice of sea, Peter. Those deep greens lull me.
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I do love a sea like this… if I would have gone to the west coast I know how clear the sea is at this time of the year, and sea salat is so perfectly green…
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Thanks Bjorn, Here’s the twitter address (you can stare at for a while 🙂)
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I love this: “a drape of sea lettuce — perfectly greened to please a child”
It looks like a beautiful place.
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I was going to ask where is the crab, but the view is from a crab’s eyes. God is only incidental. I like that subtlety. Good music also. Reminds me of the music of the group, Friends of Dean Martinez.
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Hmmm – have to go look for them. 🙂
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How amazing that the prompt word ‘sky’ took you to the sea, Peter – you can’t have one without the other – and a crab cam, no less!. I especially love the ‘drape of sea lettuce — perfectly greened to please a child’, which appealed to my inner child. My favourite phrase is ‘water gif-looped like breathing’.
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What a marvelous visit here this moment…..beautiful photo, exquisite words, and soothing and peaceful music. Who could ask for more!!
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“a drape of sea lettuce — perfectly greened to please a child,”… this is beautiful! 💝
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Hi Peter! This is something I need to share with my fellow writers here at dVerse. I so enjoy reading the work that you create and post, and am genuinely honored to be embraced as a part of this community of poets. May we all find healing in these challenging times. And as a true aquarian love child, and also a proud flower child of the 60’s, who truly believed then we would some day change the world to be a better place for all, and still believes that we might yet do it — I wish each of you peace, health, and love. Write on!
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I love the view, so calm. And as others have pointed out, these word descriptions just described the scene:
a drape of sea lettuce — perfectly greened to please a child
and water gif-looped (very unique word pairing)
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I do love this, and the ending is wonderful, “cold, clear and flowing
like our knowledge;
the sky and the land
some Edenic afterthought.” Thanks for introducing me to a new musician, and the 20 seconds of peace in that video are the perfect gift!
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Thanks Victoria – who says that Twitter is a waste of time eh?
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Such a calming scene you captured, Peter. Let the waters gather into seas…and God saw that it was good!
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the sky doubles as a lacey backdrop. pleasing
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Luckily I have lived close to the sea most of my life. An uncrowded beach is one of most enchanting places to wander and explore. It sure is close to Eden!
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(we’re so lucky).
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A crab’s eye view of the littoral: an enchanting piece, Peter!
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I like that subtle and very clever sentence break, dividing knowledge from the natural world and Eden. We know that knowledge had no place there.
Aside from that, the rhythm of the water is so soothing.
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magical (K)
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I love “gif-looped like breathing” – wonderful imagery of sensations.
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Gorgeous, Peter. I like the idea of the rest being afterthoughts to that crystal-beautiful shore, and perhaps it doesn’t matter where our knowledge flows to.
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Thanks Steve – yes, perhaps you’re right.
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“Some Edenic afterthought “ – brilliant ending, Peter. Love this poem!
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