Ever the Tidepool
Barnacle-encrusted rocks
crowned with seaweed hair
line this shallow pool
prowled by hermit crabs in slipper shells.
Minnows in sunshine
spooked, retreat to shade.
Starfish and calico crabs,
big clumps of mussels
make their abode here
in this intertidal zone.
When the tide returns
this pool will be reclaimed by the sea
for a while.