POEM
Breakage
Mary OliverI go down to the edge of the sea.
How everything shines in the morning light!
The cusp of the whelk,
the broken cupboard of the clam,
the opened, blue mussels,
moon snails, pale pink and barnacle scarred—
and nothing at all whole or shut, but tattered, split,
dropped by the gulls onto the gray rocks and all the moisture gone.
It's like a schoolhouse
of little words,
thousands of words.
First you figure out what each one means by itself,
the jingle, the periwinkle, the scallop
full of moonlight.
Then you begin, slowly, to read the whole story.
Source: Poetry (August 2003).
This poem originally appeared in the August 2003 issue of Poetry.
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Poet Mary Oliver is an “indefatigable guide to the natural world,” wrote Maxine Kumin . . . MORE »
