Speaking for the Maugean Skate

Skate skulks shore-way, shifting sand, skimming 

a thinned-out stone, all slim and tapering, but 

what may appear so flat has weight 

as two-dimensional as a leaf is 

its venules, tiny veins, extend as a river system

spiriting light to oxygen, cruciality to cruciality

meanwhile 

your domino economy trips over itself 

to pontificate on its own importance 

What use is a skate? 

What of Big Business 

and the complexities of the Intricate Salmon Industry? 

Things die, this is true. 

But what value to us is Cold Hard Cash 

in a world where coasts rest 

unmoved 

unstirred 

by filleting, fleet-finned, 

old-as-sand

skates?