Woman by the Sea in Åsgårdstrand

By Mary Beth Hines

after Edvard Munch’s, oil on canvas, 1898

From the edge of the jetty,
she watches the men
row their small boats home.

The violet sky knits itself
to water, horizon
clenching indigo,

striated bruise running
the whole length
of that endless body

while beneath her feet
boulders growl, devour salt,
spray, like petty gods.

She has lived her whole life here.

Now, she opens
her basket of crumbs,
scraps gathered

through another ceaseless
shoreside day to feed
the gulls frenzied

with September hunger,
easy summer pickings
long since gone.

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Mary Beth Hines writes poetry, short fiction, and non-fiction from her home in Massachusetts. Recent poems appear in Lily Poetry Review, Nixes Mate Review, SWWIM, Valparaiso, and elsewhere. Kelsay Books published her debut collection in 2021. Her circulating chapbook was a finalist in Fool for Poetry’s 2023 International Chapbook Competition, and Comstock Review’s Jessie Bryce Niles Competition. Connect at www.marybethhines.com.