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 readhis primal poemson a wooden stoolcarved from pine.His lips purpledas he scannedprimordial wordsand his tongueshadowedlike a chow’s. 3