Sea Snails on a Black Chow's Tongue

At the conclusion of Keith Harvey's novel, Cave Gossip, the protagonist recites an aphorism: being in being is. Sea Snails on a Black Chow's Tongue explores the meaning of this aphorism. The poems in this collection, then, deal with man's basic aloneness in being; a castaway, if you will, in his own existence. Poet

He sat and read

his primal poems

on a wooden stool

carved from pine.

His lips purpled

as he scanned

primordial words

and his tongue

shadowed

like a chow's.