Identifying The Body (Poetry)

Contours change over time —
erosion takes its toll —
an unkind sort of longshore drift
and years of weather gnawing
at the fleshy under-cliff
until it crumbles

I barely recognise my island
as it gives in to the waves
those once-smooth white beaches
private with fine lace
and the echoes of past summers
blow ever-colder

Dry skin-flurries puff like snow —
spread their evidence of age
and shape a stranger
adding lines I’m loathe to claim
as being mine — I’d much rather
deny all kinship

and swear this body’s one
I do not know