ignore the tides and waves
dropping you against a sheer cliff
here the sea makes the rules
you have to climb the headlands
stumble cross numerous hidden streams
enter a cocoon of fog or follow animal
tracks through moss and sand
find solitude in a whale's jaw bone
or a kind of bird you've never before seen
above sea stacks geese ribbon
toward the horizon of a curdled sky
eagles hit updrafts and glide
on twenty foot waves of air like surfers
gulls fake the maneuvers
where sky hunkers behind thick clouds
streaked like children's fingerprints
whales hump in perfect arcs
sound and spume five perfect spouts
we two imperfect once called each other lovers
now we barely move in the sludge of aftermath
while you clamber along rocks
surefooted and bound for adventure
I sit, feet planted firmly on sand
streaking my legs clean up to scars
marking every ocean I've encountered
from Indian to the Aegean and my ankles
pulse with the various tides
Colleen J. McElroy
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