BROWSE Columns
✕
The survey mark
is set into concrete
beside the harbour wall—
a brass circle,
thumb-wide,
green at the edges.
Someone has scratched
a name across it.
The last letter
has begun to close.
Rain gathers
in what remains.
At low tide,
the wall gives back
its darker measure.
Mussels shut
along the waterline.
A gull steps over
the fixed point
without altering course.
By evening,
the tide has entered
the last letter.
Topher Shields is a poet from Aotearoa New Zealand. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Puerto del Sol, Cordite Poetry Review, Washington Square Review, Hawaii Pacific Review, Santa Clara Review, Mantis, The Shore, DIALOGIST, and Pinyon Review. His poetry has been recognised by the Cheltenham and Bedford International Poetry Competitions, The Rialto Nature & Place Poetry Competition, and River Heron Review.
