Poem: Instructions for Finding Frosted Glass at the Beach

Instructions for Finding Frosted Glass at the Beach

The glass is commonly found in the middle rocks

at the edge of the high-tide wash

an hour before sunset in fall

when the waves are beginning to churn

Walk easy, look hard, but

not so hard that you can’t hear the ocean

The best are found alone

on plains of wet sand teased by the breakers

Keep your gaze to the sun and

watch for them flashing

guitar-pick chinks of white, green, brown

the rare and lovely blue

stitching your pockets, scraping as you walk

Take five minutes to watch the sun fall away

this will cost you the green and the brown

which turn in the gloaming to coal-dark lumps

but the clear is still a possibility

even, occasionally, in moonlight

so long as you ignore the

triangular fragments of mussel-shell

Remember that your quarry lies in a middle ground

that these fallen stars come not from

beauty but from someone

throwing litter on a beach

Do not feel the need to restock

this will be done for you

From the collection Great Showtunes of the American Stage  

First published in Parting Gifts

(Greensboro, North Carolina)

Photo by MJV