The Ocean’s Evening Gown

The tide unravels on the shore.
She drags her skirts across the floor,

and when her frothing petticoat
begins to catch, she makes it float

again with a defiant tug.
She looks behind her with a shrug,

abandoning translucent weeds
that edged her hem like strings of beads

and see-through quivering jellyfish.
Then with a final, flippant swish

she turns and swirls her satin down
into the deep where sunbeams drown.