A Short History of Oysters on the Eastern Shore

What we lack of information, we frame
               as conjecture. Imagine 

              how puzzle pieces fit
together or not at all, how a missing space
             can have the sheen on the inside 

of an oyster shell. It takes work, 
            even skill, to pry them open—

The waters salt them by degrees, leach
           the taste of a place into them. Once, 

so many covered these beaches
           like craggy pelt, like dragon scales
before hunger overtook itself.