Green Clouds
Green clouds
lie along the surface
of our coastal passage.
Clouds of conifers,
of Sitka spruce, cedar,
shore pine,
hemlock and alder;
that change shape by decades
instead of days;
by generations
of snow and light;
that share the shelter
of their deep-rooted solace
with the water,
the earth, the birds
and sometime-passing men.
The Inside Passage
Southeast Alaska
July 2009
Sea Cycle
A man rides his bicycle
on the sea.
Salt rubs the tires,
sun reflects on the soles
of his shoes
as he pedals
over starfish
and speckled crabs,
under seagulls
and threaded clouds,
past fishermen
and upright bathers --
until the pier,
where he turns left
and follows the sun down
over the horizon.
Forte dei Marmi
Italy
October 1997
from The Speed of Sight
Point of Convergence
Of pinegreen land.
Of ashgray sand
studded with bleached
oyster shells,
wavewashed stones.
Of clearcold sea.
Of a slow-moving scrim
of saltwhite mist
soft over the surfaces;
echoing a low tide of
bluebordered clouds.
Of an unveiled body
and spirit of a free-
floating man, poet.
Coming together,
flowing together
on a solitary, salutary
Maine coast morning.
on Seapoint Beach
near Gerrish Island
Kittery,
Maine
Late June 2017
Venice Begins
It begins with a ripple,
of mortality: coffins floating.
Of near fatality:
patients floating
on waterborne stretchers.
Of locality: fisherman floating
in the glass green lagoon
above curious crustaceans
and one black figure
in a frog suit.
Then continues,
in its richly aqueous way,
rising and falling
on tides of Canaletto light,
travelers, and the whims
of history and nature.
in Venezia
Italia
September 2007
Water Falling
Water falls
thousands of feet
down the sheer stone face.
Fiorded light falls
down the tree-bannistered
glacial ridge,
below the elbow
of Endicott Arm.
As the rush
of The Race,
of the rapids,
rises up, revels up
past earth and ears
into the morning air.
kayaking in Ford’s Terror
Endicott Arm,
Southeast Alaska
July 2009