Marine Layer
published in Plainsongs, Corpus Callosum Press, fall 2026
https://www.corpuscallosumpress.com/poetry


black and turquoise plaster fish
hung from Grandma’s bathroom walls
rhinestones for eyes
metal hooks embedded in their unglazed backs

her decor theme
matched Grandpa’s hobbies
an aquarium in the livingroom
and backyard greenhouses filled with tanks and jars

Uncle Earl was a merchant marine
and when she said he drank like a fish
I pictured water through gills
and the way sand looks dark and glossy
as a wave recedes

my brother
my sister
and I
licked Popsicles at the beach
the air smelled like creosote and kelp

our home was inland
mountainside conifer woods
and a well that ran dry
where we read sailors’ tales
and learned that gulls are signs of shore
to those who thought they were lost at sea