He was last seen…edit0.0000001 john

[John]

Through the salt-cracked, creaking boards,
sea seethes below.
Round the storm-scoured, rust-crust rails
wild west winds blow.

On the tight-turned switch-back swell
a skewed skiff slides,
disappearing in the troughs
of tearing tides.
 
In the dim of dying day
a clay cloud cleaves.  
Sunlight side-slips through the grey;
dread darkness leaves.

On the pier the public peers
and scans the scene.
No one is there, the ocean bare;
he was last seen….

tectak2015 Lingua in maxillam

Living on the coast I can relate to this and the not-infrequent occurrences of such.

The points that made me double-take were L4 S1 - my initial image was one of tumbleweed rolling though a frontier town. And the first two lines of S4 - perhaps the public peer and scan the scene... public being a singular entity. That may be just down to regional variations and mode of speech.

Overall, I enjoyed the subject imagery, rhythm, assonance and alliteration of this poem. Good stuff.