In honor of the recent 5-year closure of the Apalachicola oyster fishery due to drought, we present this "found" reflection, informed by the effects of climate change on the California fishery, from our friend Denise Low.
* * * The oyster, size of a middling pebble, has uneven coloring with some brilliant whites. . . . harder for them to form their calcium-based shells It is a tightly closed world. . . . enclosed estuaries and bays like Tomales Bay One can open it, nonetheless, if held within a folded rag, with a cheap, serrated knife. . . . structure and food upon which other species rely Blows on the outer shell leave white ripples like halos. . . . temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen Inside, one discovers a whole world of food and drink: under firmament of mother-of-pearl, a sky shines both above and below. . . . oysters settle to rocks so they cannot move Between, a viscous, greenish pool ebbs and flows, edged with fringe. . . . shellfish change from free-floating larvae and settle Within their throats are rainbows and—a few pearls. . . . goldilocks zones within California estuaries * * * [Found poem-- with selections from ScienceDaily, 6 August 2019. and “Oyster” by Francis Ponge. Translation from French by Denise Low]
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June 2021
Kristin Prevallet Author/Editor
I'm a writer & teacher in Lawrence, Kansas who actually believes the scientists. I wrote a book of poems called Of Some Sky that seems to have something to do with all this. |