water poems

illusions inside my pocket

       like a rabbit is.

       I am traveling to the future today.   I’ll only
       do it once.   once is enough.

I love the water in the dark.   the moon sitting across the table
from me.   shining sand, wet does due honor the sea.

moon and I, we could talk.   quiet talk.   gentle talk.
but there’s no need.   so we don’t.

I could lay into wet sand.   there would be no cold.
there would be remembering.   and tomorrow, of course.

grain by grain.   water is my gown.

see how we splinter and revive.   maybe you think, what,
is everything stopped.   are the boats all gone.

but just wait for the lanterns.   even if it takes a year.
time is not a measure.   only our breathing is.

by sevens they arrive.   a circle is.

a wedding ring.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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please visit and/or support the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
they make the ocean more alive.   us too.

please click header image to see water change.
 
 
 
 
 

Kaisuiyoku

 

海水浴     sea bathing

 

 
 
 

 

 
what nest is this for your eyes.   ears too, they settle here.   fingers.
     toes.

water poem in a sequence of breaths

 
sand then water.   cold.   some of it blue.   some green.   sometimes white.
when you’re close.   close enough.   a starfish, maybe orange.   or anomie
eager to tug.   fingertips.   curves in water.   like wheels are.   a dead shark,
washed ashore.   he touched it then.   skin like barbs.   you can feel.
     one way right.   the other wrong.
rocks, yes, great nurseries of them.   rusting rails on a concrete pier.
mothers and young ones.   sheltered on the beach.   but still, blue
feet with only five minutes wade.   then wait.   then night.
     Chinese lanterns elaborate.   then someone says.   remember this.
touches your shoulder, saying, glad you’re here.   twenty, thirty years.
much fits inside my memory.   saltwater too.

sometimes a sound will be refracted or reflected and arrive in
unanticipated places.   unexpectedly.   your ears might be both
surprised and pleased.

although I suppose ocean rhythm won’t travel seven hundred
miles, no matter what.   except, they do.   as much as we believe
that’s really the voice of our friend over a long distance phone.
not just random bits well organized.

how often can you look with new borne eyes?

within one breath everything trusted, made right again.

 
 
 
 
in Japanese shinrin-yoku means forest bathing.   this then is my own version, taking residence with the sea, the changing nature of living with this body here.   how we reflect each other.   how we are nurtured here.   studies have shown such exposure brings benefit both emotionally and physically.   even to see a film or pictures produce some positive result.

          take your time.
 
 

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MBA webcam views of Monterey Bay used with permission.
please support the Monterey Bay Aquarium

round about May, sea lion mothers bring their young up on the beach.

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sea me change

every day my dear your face changes like the sun like the moon like the sky.

          beautiful.
 
 
 
these images open in new browser tabs so that you might be able to easily
and swiftly switch between their views, back-and-forth, the better to see.
          different days, different tides, different facing suns.
 

            please fully enlarge images for best view

MBA webcam views of Monterey Bay used with permission.
please support the Monterey Bay Aquarium

            best viewed in your browser