Littoral Again
A different exploration
The beach below Trafalgar Street in Kitsilano looking East North East. April 2026.
After sharing my first pass at Littoral a friend suggest a different approach to sequencing these notes. He felt that the short descriptions of the microenvironments would provide a deeper set of insights into walking this beach.
The mciro envionments on this beach are …
Sand
Sparse attached algae; occasional sea lettuce drift; sometimes adjacent eelgrass
Sand dollars, sand lance, ghost shrimp, burrowing clams, cockles
Burrowing, hiding, and feeding on suspended particles or organic films
Eel grass
Native eelgrass, sometimes dwarf eelgrass drifted from Japan
Juvenile salmon, Pacific herring, crabs, shrimp, clams, algae and bacterias
Nursery habitat, sediment stabilization, food-web amplification
Shell (mostly oyster):
Attached algae, sea lettuce, microalgae
Juvenile Dungeness crab, oysters, pea crabs, anemones, small fishes, worms
Hard, complex refuge and settlement surface
Stone:
Rockweed, red algae, sea lettuce, kelps lower down (but seldom seen on this beach)
Limpets, periwinkles, chitons, shore crabs, sculpins
Space competition, grazing, attachment, refuge in crevices
Stone with barnacles (good footing):
Barnacle matrix plus patchy algae
Barnacles, dogwinkles, sea stars, crabs, mussels, clingfishes
Filter-feeding matrix that attracts predators and later colonists
Stone with seaweed (slippery):
Rockweed, sea lettuce, red algal turfs, kelp juveniles
Isopods, amphipods, periwinkles, chitons, juvenile fish, crabs
Canopy moderates heat and drying; good refuge, bad human footing
Mud:
Eelgrass patches, green algae, diatoms
Lugworms, bent-nosed clams, butter clams, mud snails, shore crabs, shorebirds
Deposit feeding, siphon feeding, burrowing, bird foraging (crows, seagulls, ducks when the tide is up, sand pipers, surprisingly sometimes sparrows)
Mud slime and Biofilms:
Diatoms, bacteria, microalgae, extracellular polysaccharide film
Western sandpipers, meiofauna, some snails and invertebrate grazers
Microbial primary production directly powers higher trophic levels
Some possible sequences follow. These draw on my notes from 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. The links between the notes are not meant to be narrative. They are more like the ‘scent’ (niou 匂う) that connect versus in renga. I am early in my exploration of this approach to sequencing notes.
Sand – footprints and grains
Beach sand coarse
Grained fine grained
Pulling at his hair
Sand
Sparse attached algae; occasional sea lettuce drift; sometimes adjacent eelgrass
Sand dollars, sand lance, ghost shrimp, burrowing clams, cockles
Puppy belly beach
Sand everywhere on
The sofa on the floor
Beach sand and grit
In the sheets on the couch
Stuck to our feet
Tide lapping
At the ledge a layer
Of warmer water
Wave sound enclosing
Its own silence and wash
Of gravel on the beach
Beach sand and grit
In the sheets on the couch
Stuck to our feet
Water soured
In the air lost ions
And temporal drift
Sand – sand, heat, and aging
Summer dry heat
The grass growing
Slower than spring
Sand
Burrowing, hiding, and feeding on suspended particles or organic films
The steeper slope
Is easier to swim from
In colder water
Beach sand coarse
Grained fine grained
Pulling at his hair
Sand white frost
Crinkle lost bitter
Salt waves
Dust tastes sun
Spitting onto the sidewalk
At the end of summer
Dust skeins
Delicate coherence
Breath
Number an evenness
Of sound resting in
Even temperament
Eel grass – nursery and breath
Practicing practice
Walk in a straight line
Then walk back
Eel grass
Native eelgrass, sometimes dwarf eelgrass drifted from Japan
Juvenile salmon, Pacific herring, crabs, shrimp, clams, algae and bacterias
Listening for the smell
Of iodine in the eelgrass
As it starts to rot
Water thin over
Stone sliding onto
And into itself
Water at the boundary
Of being and nothingness
At the three point balance
Micro surface tensions
Pulling against the sides of the tube
Lifting water to the leaves
Eel grass – drift and nursery
Low tide rot
Kelp and oyster
Salt smells
Eel grass
Nursery habitat, sediment stabilization, food-web amplification
The water transparent
Distortion of light passing
Across its surface
Puppy didn’t swim
But flopped in every puddle
On the beach
Green grey green
Gray blue green light
Exhaling oxygen
Given kept are
Broken and living
Inside light
Shell – hard refuge
Shell (mostly oyster):
Attached algae, sea lettuce, microalgae
Juvenile Dungeness crab, oysters, pea crabs, anemones, small fishes, worms
Hard, complex refuge and settlement surface
The dog snow
In his paws leaves
Footprints on the floor
Beach rocks organized
By size and texture colour
And shape
Old cheddar
With large crystals
Left to dry
Puppy pee browns
A patch of thyme
We walk on
Shell – colour and work
Shell white glowing
Between the darker lines
Of charcoal ink
Shell white clouds
Returning over the white
Spray thin lines
Shell white from the bottom up
The top curves straight down
Hard, complex refuge and settlement surface
The tideline marked
By iodine and motor oil
Smells in the sun
Iron blade cleaned by
Cutting coring peeling cutting
Many many apples
Parchment apple stains
From slow heat and light sugared
Brown on white
Stone – dry footing, competition
Stone:
Rockweed, red algae, sea lettuce, kelps lower down (but seldom seen on this beach)
Limpets, periwinkles, chitons, shore crabs, sculpins
Space competition, grazing, attachment, refuge in crevices
The same rock stands
Differently with the sea state
And tide shifts
Green soaked with
Light and salt growing
At the cliff base
Clouds brightening
South east the sky shining
Silver inside grey
Walk carefully by
Means of contradictions
Until you stop
Stone – weight and aging
The stone fits
The hand for
Different purposes
Stone:
Space competition, grazing, attachment, refuge in crevices
A weight remembering
Love resting on my
Ribs held still
Stone round cold
Dissipating pain as heat
Cool again to touch
Old enough now to keep out
Two of the lacquered New Year’s bowls
For daily use
Older I pause at
The top of the steps looking
For the handrail
Struggling to know
What is happening to my
Body as it fails
Stone with seaweed - slippery canopy
Stone with seaweed (slippery):
Rockweed, sea lettuce, red algal turfs, kelp juveniles
Isopods, amphipods, periwinkles, chitons, juvenile fish, crabs
Canopy moderates heat and drying; good refuge, bad human footing
Walking on wet
Seaweed trying to step
Straight down
Water thin over
Stone sliding onto
And into itself
Surface slick and
Glossy slip as dangerous
As wet ice
Low tide rot
Kelp and oyster
Salt smells
Stone – tangle and voice
Puppy chest deep
In a wave barks
Knocked down barks
Stone with seaweed (slippery):
Canopy moderates heat and drying; good refuge, bad human footing
Puppy flop in
Ocean water splash
And frolic
Cloud splashed
Shift into waters breath
Looking into shallows
Voice box clicking
Syllables short or
Shaped breath
Wave sound enclosing
Its own silence and wash
Of gravel on the beach
Mud – soft ground, work
Mud:
Eelgrass patches, green algae, diatoms
Lugworms, bent-nosed clams, butter clams, mud snails, shore crabs, shorebirds
Deposit feeding, siphon feeding, burrowing, bird foraging (crows, seagulls, ducks when the tide is up, sand pipers, surprisingly sometimes sparrows)
The creek will resurface
Bark branch litter
Removing a stone
Removing more stones
A faint damp
Soil soaked deep
After weeks of rain
Some root rot
The night air smells of
Cigarettes and cinnamon
Of coming frost
Mud – softness and breath
Mud:
Deposit feeding, siphon feeding, burrowing, bird foraging
Puppy pee steams
Melts some frost
And then sinks in
Wet sand sticking
To feet and puppy fir
Even the ball
Water some snow
Then tea waiting for
The tannins colour
Breath vapour
Bound to lung membranes
Tight as skin
Mud Slime with Biofilms – grazing
Mud slime and Biofilms:
Western sandpipers, meiofauna, some snails and invertebrate grazers
Microbial primary production directly powers higher trophic levels
Diatoms, bacteria, microalgae, extracellular polysaccharide film
Sand in his belly hair
The dog rolls over
Happy
Sand washed from
A bed of shell and stone
Attention concentrates
Dust lingering on the tongue
Of the world of missing her
Her dew is on my skin
The distance between
Breath repetition and our
Slow dying
Mud Slime with Biofilms – slick, scum, and return
Mud slime and Biofilms:
Microbial primary production directly powers higher trophic levels
Sand white frost
Crinkle lost bitter
Salt waves
Beach surf breaking
Logs rumbling too
Dangerous to go farther
The smell of snow
Under heavy rain
As the air chills
Bird shit scum fermenting
On the mussel beds and
Closed barnacles
Swallowing in the bird
Shit scum fermenting
On the mussel beds
Swallowing rain blinking
Huddled into our raincoats
Holding hands
An opening.