1. Growing Old

If you wait too long by the primordial sea
Your hair will catch the silver of the waves
Your face will reflect the iridescent sunset,
Your hands will sift the primeval seabed sand
For coral eyes, bleached bones, ragged claws,
Your memory will unearth Gallic and Hellenic battles,
Ships sunk, lovers gone, heroes dead and treasures lost,
Your friends will vanish one by one like Ulysses,
You will seek the company of reclusive mermaids
And weave your tales in their gossamer hair,
And once in a while if you capture Cyclops
Your eyes will undergo a sea change
And your psyche will transmogrify
The language of Shakespeare and Hemingway
Into a new figural narrative.


2. Time

Whether you watch the
Biblical Dead Sea for Egyptian balms,
Or the Black Sea for elliptical depressions
The sea does not understand your gaze,
Time and language steal the show.


3. In Motion

In my saner moments
I know there’s nothing beyond the sea,
It’s just an endless stretch of salt water
With not a drop to drink,
Yet my heart yearns for the mystery
And adventure that lies ahead.

I imagine the sirens, the mermaids,
The magic eyes of fishes,
The way of the whale in the deep ocean,
The way of the tempest in commotion
And the wayfarer in me,
Always searching, always in motion.


4. The Rising Self

Late at night when you lie in bed
You hear the sea in despair
Rising wave after wave, after wave,
To touch the brilliance of the stars
Or cross the liminality of Tennyson’s bars
And then you gain the courage
To enter the dark telos of your being.


5. Sea Gifts

As I stood on the beach
The sea came overwhelmingly strong,
But I stood my ground.

It came again
Swirled and foamed under me
Testing my resolve.

Then it smiled and
Touched my feet
Leaving behind sea gifts.


6. Star in the Galaxy

When all the work is done
I will go to the sea and
Watch the sinking sun
Releasing the frosty night
On which phantom ships respond
To flashing lighthouses and
Strident night birds
Shake off the stellar dust.

I will then remember
The instructions from the Milky Way,
The liquefaction of my own beginnings,
And follow without fear
The luminosity in the dark
To the very end,
When all the work is done
And I’m a star in the galaxy.


7. Chumash Narrative, Sea at Isla Vista

The sea lavender blooming
Above the eroded beach
Compete with shades
Of the ocean blue consuming.

Stretching into a mystery
Curving into the horizon
Touching your face and
Startling you into history.

The surf from reef breakers
Take you into an undisturbed calm
Of a bygone era
Where there are no mapmakers.

Imagine this Chumash terrain
Knit with tribal loyalties,
Common land ownership,
Now a paradise mundane.


8. The Story of Camino Pescadero Stairway

As night falls
The sea rises quickly,
Flooding the beaches,
Submerging the
Wooden stairways,
Darkening the embankment,
Rearing to meet the land.

The waves growl threateningly
Against the already
Exposed reef
As old Victorian houses
Hang precariously
Against the soft mud walls
Ready to collapse.

The sea climbs the staircase
Then retreats and then
Climbs again,
As if narrating
The early history
Of the European conquest
Of the Chumash land.


9. Odaiba Beach, Tokyo

As the sun sets over the sea
A beam of liquid gold
Hits the watery facade
Refracting against the reef
Revealing the secret shadows
Of an unmanageable past
And the pretentious convenience
Of the present.


10. Finding a Pattern in Chaos

You can swim in its placid waters
Ride the big waves,
Snorkel or do deep sea diving,
But a tempest or a storm can
Wreck havoc with your worldview,
Destroy all your meticulous connections,
So unerringly told and retold
By Shakespeare onwards.

All liquids interact with you
From the edge of chaos
To the living reality,
So you can never be friends
With the sea,
Only a silent observer
Throwing upon it
Your moods and concerns.


11. Sandcastles of Isla Vista

Under the watchful eyes of parents
Children play on the sea beach, splashing, laughing and
Picking up shells of mollusks, clams and quahogs,
Embellishing their cavernous sandcastles.
You wonder why sandcastles do not endure.


12. Perfidious Sea

Your heart yearns for the sea
Its ultramarine blue, sunset shades,
Its thick gurgle and echo.

It tugs at your heart
Shames your imagination, and
Pacifies your agitation.

Then it slaps you
Without warning,
And sucks your breath out.