Shorebound adjustable someone tried to read it

someone tried to read it the usual way — hand hovering

You don’t find a scale like this

They do not speak in words

and the quiet pull of things just out of reach

hiding inside treasure chests

Shorebound adjustable someone tried to read itIts made on the last evening before departure, when the ship is already loaded and the ropes have been checked twice over. Someone sits on an overturned crate near the waterline, working the links together by hand, slow and deliberate, while the others move around them in the half light. The small octopus is added last, its shape pressed into place as if it belongs to the chain more than anything else does. Its for you, one of them says, not looking