Beach Day -- 27 June (Photo Poem)

While I Was Away from the Beach

While I was away from the beach

the boardwalk weathered a bit

new tire marks were chiseled into the sand

the spring sunflowers all went to seed

While I was away from the beach

the sea oats grew and multiplied

a brilliant blue day called out the sailboats

 a local retiree put up a beach umbrella for shade.

While I was away from the beach

a child collected branches

and made a seashell tree

a dragonfly was born to alight upon it. 

While I was away from the beach

a mother turtle laid her eggs in the dark of night

the protectors of her offspring 

put up signs and yellow tape.

While I was away from the beach

the turbulent tide came in

leaving only broken shells and kittens paws

for the shell-seekers to feast upon.  

Bowman's Beach on a June morning

  

Beach Day -- 8 June (Photo Poem)

In Morning High Tide

I arrive

Beach nearly empty

Save for a family fishing

A birdwatcher.

The tide is high

The path is narrow

Waves lap the shore gently

I think of this week

I'm filled with art

With work on a short story

With friendships and fun

Yet I've kept a structured path

Returning each day to what is important

Writing, music, exercise, meditation.

Where the beach ends

an inlet from the bay into the mangroves

Observation meditation

Blue herons rustle around the water's edge

Large mangrove crabs scuttle on the branches

New growth green and bright at the base

A cell phone floats by in the water.

I'm awake, alive, and curious as I

bear witness to the natural world

I'm on a small path

but it is a vast world.

I walk back

It is hotter now 

a bay breeze pushes me along

Clouds billow up over the Sanibel Causeway

A missing piece for my story falls into place

unexpected.

I wasn't even thinking about it.

Families have arrived now

Toddlers splash in the shallow water

Photographer walks the shore

Fishermen have left

I'm filled with art -- the color, the process

All that naturally comes together

unexpected

in morning high tide.

Beach Day -- 17 May (Refuge Day Poem)

I arrive.

Bunche Beach 7:20 a.m.

I take refuge in the Buddha

Whisper of a moon in the morning sky
Golden-winged dragonfly
Sand matted flat from high tide.

Sky. Air. Earth.

Common spider crab

I take refuge in the Dharma

Crabs skittering
Fishermen casting
Kayaks loading
Hawks hunting
Plovers meditating

Prayers.

Prayer spot -- see the moon in the left corner?

 I take refuge in the Sangha

6 Pelicans
5 Black-bellied plovers
4 Spider Crabs
3 Fishermen
2 Walkers
1 Swimmer

Lovingkindness.

May we be peaceful
May we be happy
May we live with ease
May we be free from inner and outer harm
May we care for each other joyfully on this earth.

Beach Day -- 12 May

Middle Gulf Beach

Haiku 

Strong surf running wild

shells congregated masses

sun beaming brightly.

Black-bellied plover

A spontaneous poem after walking the shoreline.

The ancients are calling

Grains of sand carried far

  from their original home

A shell has made a journey

A thousand shells a migration

A million shells an invasion

Our world interconnected

Touch the sand, the shell,

touched by the ancestors

All the ones who came before

Same sun

    Same surf

                       Same destined world.