The sea god realized swallowing
all the plastic dumped in his realm
gave him a belly ache.
He beached himself not far from a stream
where an osprey ate what remained
of a salmon not fully consumed by a bear.
The sea god vomited nearly twenty acres of plastics
to fill an area the locals complained
suffered from severe erosion.
He withdrew the sea and its tides fifty yards
so it would not rush on shore and steal
this multi-colored sadness.
A raft of buffleheads was quite upset about this
since the sea god’s actions
moved them closer to orca filled waters.
Sea otters mapped out the new shoreline
with its new perspectives of sea stacks
and the minor alterations in the clouds.
copyright © 2023 Kenneth P. Gurney
Umflop 