Fine Lines (Prose/Poems)
Sean Howard
Standing at the edge of the sea is exhilarating. This is the meeting place of terrestrial and marine life, where two ecosystems intertwine.
— Jeffrey C. Domm, Canada’s Atlantic Seashore
i. Northern Comb Jelly
‘Transparent…
iridescent…
shallow…’
(Nobody’s
perfect, I
guess)
ii. Common Northern Whelk
‘Juveniles found only in tidal pools,
larger, older individuals in
deeper water’
(Tidepool, snail-
school, spoon-
fed sea)
iii. Atlantic Slipper Shell
‘Inside resembles
a slipper with
toe cap’
(The mermaid’s
witty neck-
lace)
iv. Foxberry
Aptly, ‘creeps
along ground…’
v. Herring Gull
‘Scavenges behind
fishing boats’
(Fleet – the
traditional cloud-
fishery…)
vi. Greater Yellowlegs
Jazz fan –
‘Nods head continuously
when wading and searching
for food’
Sean Howard is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Unrecovered: 9/11 Poems, Then as Now (Gaspereau Press, 2021). His poetry has been widely published in Canada, the UK, US, and elsewhere and featured in The Best of the Best Canadian Poetry in English (Tightrope Books, 2017). Sean Howard has work in ē· rā/ tiō 29, 26 and 24.