FLAME SHELLS by Kate Hendry

How wonderful to believe him!

Fantastic tales of his sea loch

and its tremendous flame shell bed.

He says I’d find 300 million of them,

if I were to dive down.

And I say, I believe you!

But these days, so many of his facts

are stories, I have almost lost faith.

My father, who once knew everything.

Reluctant apostate,

I fact-check his story of flame shells,

there and then.

Relief – he’s speaking the truth.

Marine Scotland, Nature Scotland

and the BBC all say he’s right –

flame shells really were destroyed

by trawlers in the night!

I shouldn’t be glad, but I am.

More astonishment:

Each shell’s a gaping mouth of red

filaments always on display.

Who knew? My father,

blessed by Wikipedia.

Another incredible fact:

They hide their bright tentacles

in nests made of broken shell

held together by magical thread.

So many of them! Nest upon nest

until there’s a reef. The more they hide

the greater the reef. Till – hey presto!

My father – master of the most

miraculous flame shell bed

in the world – and I believe him.

____________

Kate Hendry is a poet and teacher. Her latest collection, MX SIMP, published by Mariscat Press was shortlisted for the 2023 Michael Marks Awards Poetry Pamphlets. Copies can be bought here. Her poetry has been widely published in magazines and anthologies, including PN Review, The North, Mslexia and The Rialto.