Kelp Yourself

Photograph by Alex Shapiro


Kelp Yourself

Algae.
It’s everywhere around me.
Eat your sea vegetables!

Huge swaths of the stuff drape
the shorelines,
and at low tide it looks like
the chaotic ladies’ dressing room
at Filene’s Basement or Ross Dress for Less,
the oddly greenish fabric strewn everywhere,
left behind in a mad tidal retreat
to the next big sale.

This particular dressing cove looks
straight out to Victoria,
which I could see far more clearly
than my little pocket Nikon could.
My phone could see it clearly, too:
on this side of the island
the only cell signal you can hope
to momentarily grab comes from Canada,
as witnessed by the “roaming” indicator
on my readout. Only in
or extremely near the bustling metropolis
of Friday Harbor (all four blocks of it!)
can one hope to use their cell phone.
But that’s okay, because I really didn’t
feel the urge to call anyone.
I was in deep conversation with the plants.

Alex Shapiro July 2009

Posted over on Notes From The Kelp