Shorebound adjustable let this poncho be your

let this poncho be your companion on a journey of magic and wonder

The room beyond them is already alive with conversation

They do not speak in words

hanging from a strand finer than any spider’s silk

someone tried to read it the usual way — hand hovering

Shorebound adjustable let this poncho be yourIts 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