Sea Garden

Rosamond S. King

Dead man’s fingers—
short and still
or waving spindles
brain coral,
mountain coral
ground small—they
would be pebbles
if they weren’t shards
hiding places
for trumpet
fish and crabs
live and dead coral
What is sand made of?
Who is to know
which is coral
and which
is bone
From the surface you
can see dark
patches where sea grass
and spirit hair grow

About This Poem

“When I heard that dead man’s fingers is the name of a type of coral, it seemed appropriate, since so many people perished in the ocean during the Transatlantic slave trade. ‘Sea Garden’ suggests that if you dive into the ocean, you will see beautiful and scary natural objects—some living, and some remnants of the dead.”
—Rosamond S. King

Rosamond S. King is the author of Rock | Salt | Stone (Nightboat Books, 2017). King teaches at Brooklyn College and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Photo credit: Irene Fedorovska

Poetry by King

Rock | Salt | Stone

(Nightboat Books, 2017)

"Irony" by Layli Long Soldier

"Larrea" by Louise Mathias

"The Hour and What Is Dead" by Li-Young Lee

Poem-a-Day

Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. If you enjoy Poem-a-Day, please consider making a donation to help make it possible.

Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend

January 24, 2017