This is the first poem in shades of blue‘s title sequence.

(i) beach

Cloudy blue-green like sea glass
at the shingle beach
where men—serious, purposeful—
are buttressed by gear:
feet planted wide
astride the air,
they prime harpoons
and strap on bags for catch
before backing on flippered feet
into the water
like evolution in reverse

while, further out in the waves,
a middle-aged woman
is splashing a stiff-armed, awkward crawl,
throwing a stick every so often
then swimming to it,
as if she were her own dog;
and this puzzles me
until I see her emerge:
how she steps across the rocks and pebbles
sure-footed, leaning on the stick;
how when she has dried
the heavy breasts,
the beautiful, time-sagged flesh,
she dresses and, leaving the stick,
walks up the beach
towards whatever the day holds next.