Bobbers

You fooled me again!

with your bulbous bladder,

blades climbing up your forest ladder,

bobbing up and down,

playing with me like a clown

waves rolling in and out, 

making me jump about-

“I spot an otter peeking at me!”

I cross my eyes so I can see,

But no! It’s just you and your hip-hop dancing crew,

feathery fronds paddling the blue,

Escaping the white water crash,

bobbers ducking down in a lightning bolt flash,

sun rays beaming down,

revealing your gilded crown,

a seal leaps up from oceanic depths,

Oh darn, it’s just you!,

dense trunks holding fast,

Harboring mollusks, barnacles, whichever crustaceans,

are around for this merry maritime occasion!

Suctioning to rocks,

camouflaging seabird flocks,

swaying with the ocean currents,

a 32-million year old occurrence!

long stems covered in slime,

extending your stalks in hardly no time.

But, you need to watchout! 

For the urchins munching down on you,

They have already decimated a swath of your crew!

Laminarle, nurturer,

safe keeper, 

of prodigious ocean critter,

So underappreciated...

with this warming water, will you be acclimated?

I want to thank you for all of your forest gifts,

Despite your taunts, I adore your tidal drifts.

Missing

Missing you,

wish you were here-

alas, you need to be wild,

without training wheels,

to mix and churn,

into a heterogeneous batter,

hard, sharp, pointy and colorful,

blending into-

a dough so fragrant,

pours out of the bowl,

and into the pan…

as a fluffy, breathing, rising,

bundle,

from my arms you leap.

Haa ak-suuk Creek

 

This is a good spot-

to plop, 

untie,

slip off,

laces & socks.

set down upon rocks, 

this dusty old pack,

lighten my back,

cool wet liquid,

for feet to take a drink,

A good spot,

for a swallowtail to investigate,

a salmon-colored hat,

to flutter off again,

to sample all the flowers the forest has to offer.

The mountainside bends here,

It’s a good spot,

to sneak a drink while she pours delicately into her forest glass,

tiny bits of bark and pollen sail down her 

slippery currents,

between rocks and gravel,

they help to smooth the ones I curl and settle these swollen feet into, the crevices in her rocky floor

It’s a good spot here, 

in the narrows, between the birch and cedars,

their roots clench and climb together fortifying the underground,

pushing upwards, they guide me carefully back to the bridge I descended from.  

This is a good spot, 

to awaken-

from cyclical movements, utterances, preoccupations,

to take on a new aroma,

ready to set off,

for another day.

Seal Day

Today, I will be a seal-

I will inch my way up,

this smooth silky black basalt,

starfish out,

belly exposed,

sun baking me through leggings and puffy black jacket,

flappy hat and pink shades shelter my naked eyeballs,

Argt, argt, argt-

a raven is chased by a magpie over head 

waves crash into my ears,

I close my eyes and take in all of the radiance,

argt, argt, argt-

lifting up my flipper,

to warm my underside,

Argt,argt, argt-

I settle my head back,

Stretch out my neck,

soak in the sun rays,

my rock, all mine

Argt, argt

Kelp, Twigs, and Rock

 Kelp, Twigs, and Rock

The most beautiful thing,

is twisted and gnarled,

dried and weathered, 

brittle and breaking away,

it’s curved, hardened, 

light and desiccated, 

a remnant of a verdant past,

spewn along a wispy shoreline,

piles and piles of ocean sculptures,

fragments intertwine,

bouquets blow and lay scattered for someone,

to take notice on a sleepy summer morning,

will I end up as beautiful as they, if I sit here long enough?