The Cowry Shell
How many palms have clasped
the measled back, thumbed their way
along the blue-grey watermark
to negotiate three sacks of corn
or a new bride?
Little womb of the sea,
it births an osseous mouth
all tucked and crimped in
with hints of baby teeth.
Elisabeth Sennitt Clough lives in Norfolk with her husband and three children. She won her first poetry prize last year in the PENfro Competition. Her poems have appeared in various UK poetry magazines and anthologies.