Intertidal Poetry: Making Our Way Through Change

Abstract

Clammers working in intertidal ecosystems follow the ebb and flow of the tides as they traverse mudflats in search of clams. As they move within this terrain, they notice changes in the mud, the number of clams, and the height and temperature of the ocean, which correspond with broader shifts in Earth’s systems and they work with metaphors in complex ways as they respond to these changes. This chapter weaves together theories of rhetoric and resilience to describe how clammers work with biological metaphors to trace organic rhythms in ways that articulate bodies and ecologies. Cycles, as a particular type of biological metaphor, shape how we remember ourselves as ecological in ways that extend far beyond immediate sense impressions. Together, poetry and biological metaphors can shape how we remember resilience and make our way through these troubled times.