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 will turn in the
gloaming to coal-dark lumps
but the clear is still a
possibility
even, occasionally, in
moonlight
as long as you ignore the
luminescent impostor
the triangular fragment of
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.
First published in Parting Gifts
Greensboro, North Carolina
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