Ocean

July 17, 2023July 17, 2023

BEGINNINGS IN FOOTSTEPS

Beginnings sounding of arid days with days too many
of sweltering sun, searching for shade, waiting for night
and the coolness setting in softly touching skin in relief

where stepping lightly on asphalt cushioned the burn
until calloused feet screamed less wanting ever only
to walk the sands of beaches and to soak in a saltwater
ocean and close eyes to the brilliance and drift away

to step in life’s millions and millions of footprints
each made with tenuous and anxious anticipation
hands always reaching out trying to touch the future
new beginnings are filled with Nature’s pine and fir

each day more precious than the day before the one
woke up to where quiet is profound in whisperings
and the boughs of trees tremble as the wind touches
each leaf to the tiniest pine needle shouting a presence

that only ever rivals the ocean waves distantly breaking
upon the ocean shores you once trod in the beginning
but never truly the beginning of where those footprints
would lead to another place and new shores not distant

where dreaming in another star filled night only shines
a light on memories old and new that are your life
woven together upon land and sea beginnings

Photo is My Own Digitized As Art

January 29, 2020January 29, 2020

Beyond The Waves

She drifts afloat beyond the waves
beyond where they rise and fall

I see her there but you do not
she is minded in memory pale

her tender skin warm and brown
sparkles with salty ocean sand

she fears not a bottomless depth
as the ocean touches her hand

her life has yet to really begin
& is still filled with vivid color

before living is stolen from her
& beauty becomes ghostly pallor

but beauty will blossom again
to show her the color and wonder

she drifts afloat beyond the waves
beyond where they rise and fall

to crash the sandy beaches with
seaweed painted shells hollow

where sea gulls screech loudly
she knows no one will follow

This Photo Taken From Public Domain Pictures & Created As Art

December 14, 2019December 14, 2019

The Conch Shell

To be cleansed by the salty brine
of the ocean’s ever incoming surf
is like being one with the conch

being held on the empty sandy shore
waiting for the waves gently lapping
its’ beauteous shell

to feel cleansed, to be whole
you can be still within the pain
the suffering you hold

be embraced as the conch is washed
clean and listen to the ocean
within your heart

This Image Taken From Public Domain Pictures & Created As Art

August 21, 2019August 21, 2019

The Alchemy of Water

Music swells up like mighty ocean waves
cleansing the sadness of my soul
permeating my thoughts
to quell the firestorm
within my mind

to which my dreams find me walking
along a sandy tided shore
each grain of sand sparkling
diamonds in a beam
of moonlight

a vestige matching my footprints
each one a solid reflection
of a path only I have walked
in heartache, despair
& triumph

before the salty brine of tides
comes to collect them again
to assuage each painful step
becoming an alchemist balm
a freeing spirit

May 11, 2018May 14, 2018

The Essence of Loving

Not everyone celebrates all of the days, that our present day society has intimated to be profitable in the commercialized world, but most people celebrate mothers. Even those who haven’t any knowledge of a birth mother may still wish to pay homage to a woman who has been a strong influence in their life. My own mother has been gone now ten years but I always try to remember her every day apart from the day it is marked on the calendar. Hope everyone has a woman who has impacted their life such as their own mother or another. There are two photos here taken from Public Domain Images. One is of the ocean and the other of lilacs, two things in the world my mother liked best. I like to add my own touch to make it uniquely mine.

Crystals in Sand

Memories now clear to be revealed
like sparkling sand crystals
showing brilliant in the sun

as ocean tides bring them back
time and time again acting
as a giant hourglass
unblemished
untarnished
as life colors
blemish
to distort

i see only the essence of you
i smell only the balm of you
as the fragrance of roses
lilacs reaching
to touch
the sun

the baking of pies in the oven
buttermilk biscuits warm
the scent of meals cooked
with the spices of love
reaching to touch me
embraced with warmth
nourishing
my heart
my soul

birth is proliferation
whereas love
is a good measure
never tallied
only leavened
ever grown

January 2, 2018

The Moon Waxing Gibbous

Image Taken From Public Domain Pictures and Digitally Altered by Myself.

The moon waxing gibbous yet still
slicing a swath of brilliant light
as a star cloaked in clouds of grey
heralds in another new year

while fallen leaves rain-soaked
leave paths of design wind-blown
on still another cold winter night

speaking in cursory tones of apathy
clothed in ice or frosty breath
billowing as tiny puffs of clouds
as revelers send fireworks skyward

each past year is now a footprint
knowing garnered as grains of sand
stitched into the living fabric

of each life taking every step
along an ocean bathed
in luminous moonlight

as unique as the night sky filled
with a moon waxing gibbous

May everyone have a Peace filled 2018.

October 16, 2017

A Magical Dance

See the youth that resides within me
mirrored dark curls framing a woman’s
face who now breathes easier

not often the case when questions curled
like a hazy halo of smokey confusion
within my days and nights

watch me convey knowledge soul filled
now a sign of experiential vibrant color
a glowing gold not in the guise
of youth’s vanity

see my spirit soar within mirrored eyes
clear as mountain spring waters
seeing deep as ocean valleys
thunderous as waterfalls

filling crystal clear rivers running swift
choreographed with a magical dance
of a sprite or fairy or two

This is in response to Jamie Dede’s Wednesday Prompt. Read more at her site on
https://jamiededes.com/2017/10/11/once-upon-a-time-when-they-were-old-a-poem-and-your-wednesday-writing-prompt. The image was taken from Public Domain Pictures and digitally altered by myself.

Dance of a Fairy

September 14, 2017

Ocean Dreaming

This is in response to Rick Daddario’s 30 DOH/Days of Haiga which you can see at

Haiga 2017-012-30doh: Red Leaf

Sound of Ocean

June 26, 2017

The Star Second To The Right

In a time primordial when first life began
unimaginative of the harsh realities of wars
when sunrises and sunsets were ethereal
she can only imagine stepping into dreams
of discovering an unblemished world of those
dreams made of translucent skies so that
much like Peter all she has to do is to go
to the star second to the right and straight
on till morning or perhaps like Alice she
should eat but a small bit of cake to become
just the right size to enter the garden
there upon discovering a different world
for in seeing forever is the powerful force
where oceans teeming with life are no longer
a graveyard of war ships but only coral reefs
a delightful dance of colors and creatures
and where gardens floral are wondrous delights
for children playing for hate is not a word
so cannot invade her dreams that will always
be pristine as newly fallen snow in Winter
with skies so clear she can revel to see them all
from anywhere to blissfully fly to the star second
to the right and straight on till morning

This is in response to Jamie Dede’s Wednesday prompt. You can read more of other poet’s responses at https://jamiededes.com/2017/06/21/the-hawk-has-flown-a-poem-and-your-wednesday-writing-prompt. The photo below was taken from the Morgue File and digitized by myself.

May 9, 2017September 2, 2017

Eclipsing Rainbows

There are moments of clarity drenched in a soul’s peace
where everything is an eclipse of brilliant rainbows
and becoming is like being mirrored images in lakes
where coral reefs are arms cradling infinite oceans
whereupon mountain rising islands are pristine views
touched only by Galapagos creatures of uniqueness

entering into a communion devoid of ritualistic cups
and eyesight becomes like those raptors’ rapturous quest
to make the flight over the highest of mountain ranges
like child’s play when there is a vision to fly along
and wings are the freedom of song birds a narrative song
in chorus with insects accompanied by frogs croaking

perceiving the world in a field of flowers engaging in
the mystery of becoming seeds under dark brown earth
and pushing up toward the brilliance of mother sun to
sprout into every conceivable bloom with stamen covered
with the sweetest of nectar drawing hummingbirds for
their respite and insects unknowing a pollination of life

This is in response to Jamie Dedes’s Wednesday Prompt at https://jamiededes.com/2017/05/03/soul-as-incorruptible-as-stone-a-poem-and-your-wednesday-writing-prompt. The photo below was taken from the Morgue file and digitized by myself.

Eclipsing Rainbows