Seal Rock
Bending from the shore
Like the bow of a god
The rocks guard the coast from storms.
Noisy seals find calm waters
Nearer to the land.
We were surprised to see the beach
Peopled by white driftwood.
We built a fire
And watched the distant waters surge
Above our heads, farther away.
I thought about those rocks
Created in the blood heat of volcanic storms:
How they've retired now
To watch and chastise the waves.
They stand calmly;
They do nothing rashly
Despite the disquiet of mist and foam.
Back home that night,
I held you like a bow.
The sea was surging in our thighs.
Yet we had found calm waters
Near land.
from Piedras (1978), first appearing in Prism Magazine (Corvallis, Oregon, 1974).
Sand Dunes
Low-lying fog nibbles at the grass roots
Where the sands are dancing away.
I feel the dunes moving under me.
I almost lose my balance.
Row on row they climb
Up to a shore of bent Douglas Fir
Stunted and dying in the wind.
From the far-off hills, green with forests,
Water is flowing fast.
It meets the sands in a large lagoon.
The sands sift themselves into the quiet waters.
They are marking slow time.
Seagulls cry out
Bright in the thickening fog.
Can this be the true coast at last?
I've seen darlingtonia trap a fly.
There's a long way to go to reach the ocean.
In this backwash of sand,
This bowl among the dunes,
I can hear my heart beat,
I can taste the warm blood
Reaching out, hungry for stable land.
I cry out for you on these sands.
Your eyes are my surf;
Your hair is my white wave.
I would lie down with you
To warm this place.
from Piedras (1978), first appearing in Portland Review (Fall, Winter 1982).
Shore Acres
Slabs of titled rock
Turning from the sunset.
The clouds are also tilted;
The sun goes through the chicks.
We wait for falling water
To wash the rock.
We watch the flowering light
Moving toward the land.
The order of gardens
Sinks slowly behind us.
The ocean knows no lasting fences.
A band of light precedes its foam.
Waves and light are allies;
Together they build new headlands.
And clouds and rocks find ways
To grow sea palms. from Piedras (1978)
Bandon Beach
I asked the dark rocks
to speak to me,
and I heard. . .
the seagull's cheer,
the wave's shout,
the barnacle's squirt,
and I saw. . .
the face of the rocks turn,
the lips open,
the mouth move,
and I smelt. . .
and I felt. . .
the cool, foggy breath.
from Piedras (1978)
Trust Rock
for Susan
Eyes ask for
love;
hands move to
answer.
I sit down between
your legs
to stare into
your face.
Soon we are
moving:
you lean back as I
hold you.
You stretch my arms
far out,
bending my back
forward.
I lift you up
to me.
and we em-
brace.
We relax on each
other's skin;
we learn to feel
secure.
I repeat your
movements;
you repeat
mine.
We embrace a-
gain
and a-
gain. from Piedras (1978)