The Beachcomber
Sandy-haired
from half a summer's rovings,
the beachcomber,
today on the old coast
of Florida,
in a place the Spanish
settled in 1565,
begins by stepping
from hard, high sun
into the heavy shade
of a beachside bar
bearing his name.
Standing at ease
in rolled linen sleeves,
he orders a bottle
of Newcastle Brown
from the leather-browed
bar man. Then
washes it down
in a cold rush,
watching
the late July heat
beat down
out the open doors,
on the dunes,
on the colored umbrellas,
on the unhatted heads
of the slow-passing
bathers and surfers.
St. Augustine-by-the-Sea
Late July 2013
Heavenly Body
on watching the lunar eclipse
Burnished at first,
then blemished –
an earthly foreshadowing –
then bearded
for a while,
then pillow-cased
or gunny-sacked
like a Wonderland
white rabbit, one hind-
quarter sticking out;
then cataracted:
shiny eye occluded
at 10.22
with a thin grey-flannel film;
then smudged
with a thumbprint
of tombstone lichen.
And soon, illumination
is resuming,
under the orange-gold
coating that mirrors the color
of the Falling trees
it floats above. Then
at 10.33, just a dusting left
of planetary pollen
on the lower extremities.
And, at the mellow tone, 10.40,
we return
to our regularly scheduled
heavenly body.
Central Park West
New York City
October 2004
from The Speed of Sight
Light Cycle
Coal
to slate
to glacier
to blue, to
sand to
saffron
to blood
orange to
rose
to pearl
to teal
to
indigo
to coal.
Kiawah Island
South Carolina
May 1999
Reading in the Rain
Our reader reclines
under a warm wool blanket,
with a good book,
on a broad bed
in a dry room
by the ocean’s edge.
While, through half-open
windows, rain falls
all along a dark coast;
out across an unlit ocean.
Falls for miles
through the black,
blustering, starless sky,
down to over-sodden sand.
Comforting our lone reader
under his blanket,
in his watertight room,
between the lines
and dry leaves
of his lamplit book.
Punta Zamach
Tulum,
Mexico
February 2006
Painting with Light
Painting with brushes
and washes, gouaches,
of John Marin sea-light,
Monet Giverny-light.
Matisse odalisque
and Gaugin Te Aa
No Areois-light.
With Rembrandt face-light,
Vermeer northern window-light.
With Constable cloud-light;
Winslow Homer Maine,
Bermuda sun, wind
and water-colored light.
in Central Park
New York City
July 2016