In the Blue Lobster Café backyard,
the head chef—arms outstretched—
bears what looks like a body,

but conjures six cook’s shirts,
hot-laundered, pegged out,
dripping in a drench of sun.

As they dry, their half-hearted
semaphore becomes
more urgent, untranslatable.

Sex and death are in the air
this May morning: pollen and spent
blossom on an aimless breeze;

crab-backs, prawn skins, clams,
black-violet mussel shells,
all reek in sun-baked bin-sacks.