Students from Jane Thielsen’s writing 242 Poetry class submitted their works to The Broadside for publication.
Glass Fishing Float
By Mary Nelson
How rare to find that glass float –
emerald green glinting, encased in a crusty bit of net
tiny clinging crustaceans caught
in twisted seaweed
I poked at it with my toe,
turning it over in the sand
it smelled sharply of ocean waves
salty, sun-baked, gritty
only moments before it must have been
sailing, dancing on wind and sea –
sunlight filtering through bubbles caught
in a green glass globe
Who tied all these precise netted knots?
Whose breath lies sealed inside?
Who tossed it overboard to ride the sea,
wave after wave after wave –
until finally freed by salt and wind?
Do they know their green jewel’s gone?
Cradled now in the crook of my arm,
not even the circling gulls notice my find.
