One day of summer and again skies are heavy laden,
air cool, water gray green and impassive;
otter and I are alone in the cove
his speckled head popping up
scanning the shore for predators
before arching his back in a fluid S
diving below for an unseen depth.
I want to travel to such places
beyond boundaries and fence posts
where passport and citizen are unknown
and bull kelp form temples of new ritual.
The northerly winds pick up the tide
helping the ebb in its long journey south,
spread water like a sacred manuscript
in cuneiform writing from the ancient of days.
Letting thought settle I decode the message
telling of a poet determined to live by the sea
and the music he would see and hear
played upon oceans of morning.
photo by Linda Ethier
Loved it… Wonderful imagery…
Beautiful poem. I love this photo too.
Exquisite imagery, evocative photo, oh to be there in person!
Love the poem. Love the picture.
Whether by the sea or in the desert, it is the visionary who sees beyond boundaries and into possibilities. Living in a place that makes your heart sing is fertile ground for creativity. Yesterday I stood on a hill in the desert and raised my hands toward billowing cloud formations and said, “Here I am”.
The last four lines and the photo depict the history of my marine-bent thoughts since childhood.
Just when I thought I was sated with your poem, the picture served to add something that saturated my soul. I now can’t imagine one without the other.
Loved the visualization and feeling this poem gave. Thank you for the gift!
This will stay with me…..both word and photographic art – beautiful… Thank you!
Now that is one of your best poems! You don’t tell me what to think; you just immerse me in the experience of image and imagination. Oh, yeah, you are so there! Bravo!
Nice description, but what makes it a poem? If the lines were strung together, it could be read as a paragraph out of a personal letter. In other words, I don’t feel any music in it. Which doesn’t condemn it. It’s a nice few lines to read. Just, for me, not a poem.
My wife, “Otter Woman” says, “Beautiful!” Your imagery is balanced in the image well. Write on!