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the earth rotates into the tidal bulge

Sophie Finlay

grasses spider into pools

                               fur-lined
                                                                rock striations patchwork



miniature gardens                          open   submerge

               open   submerge


                                        under the ocean’s rind                         like wombs

                              my daughter asks me do you ever feel surprised that you’re alive?


various algae, neptune’s necklace

radula grazes, groove in foot

tentacles retract to the body column

starred arms feathered with cilia


                     pool drops deep and cool
                    surface then plumb


           ruffled edge

             crests, chains

                                                                  calico


                     fossils gleam under our feet


                                                                                   she once had gill slits

Closeup of a Black Dog

Sophie Finlay is a visual artist and poet. She lives, works and creates on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. Her poetry is published in multiple journals including Meanjin, Australian Poetry Journal, Cordite Poetry Review, Plumwood Mountain journal, the anthology Shaping the Fractured Self, UWAP and more. She has also been a finalist in several art prizes including the John Leslie Art Prize and the Salon des Refuses exhibition, Lethbridge Landscape Prize. Sophie is currently a PhD candidate in literary studies and creative writing at Deakin University.

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