Shells

Clish clash under my feet
Broken chrysalis
As sharp as pins digging into my feet
A crab's home
A sequel of sentences
Held together by concrete strings
Howling at the moon in the tropics
A collector's album
Someone's footstep engraved for centuries
A home
The home
Some home.

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This poem was highly commended for Poetry Object 2019

'‘Shells’ was a clear standout: starting with the words ‘Clish clash’, I was already engaged. Onomatopoeia is always a great way to invite a reader into a poem, there’s an immediacy that’s hard to resist. Then we’re invited to look at a shell as a mystical place, feel the weight of history, before the humans came. It makes us think of fossils, maps, time, home and galaxies in just a few lines. Brilliant.'
~ Emilie Zoey Baker, Judge, Poetry Object 2019