Hello fellow poets, inspired wordsmiths,
August nuzzles in closely to July’s foggy afternoons and evenings, well
before summer has danced fully upon our ocean shores.
The relief from searing summer inland heat contrasts splendidly with
sharp cool haze along the coastal band of salty brine-soaked air. Plump
ripening tomatoes, bulbous blood red beets with tops upright and
glistening and bliss-sweet tasting carrots tell us that a season is
maturing, waning, and that time passes in its perfect unfolding.
Sunflowers face towards the light unmistakably when the sun shines. And
when the fog holds it at bay, they stand still, waiting.
My bicycle’s chain and thinly plated metal parts rust beneath the grayed
veil making what once was new and shiny, discoloured, textured with pits
dislodging slivers of decaying metal. Sheets dry slowly on the line in
the misted foggy daytime-- the heavy cotton flannel that never made it
to the cabinet to be replaced by smooth high thread count Egyptian
cotton for those anticipated sweaty hot summer nights.
The seasons pass marked by wildlife birth and growth, garden plant's
maturation and ultimate harvest. Our need for sunshine and barefoot
experiences on sandy beaches. Everyone is changed in the presence of
the seasons at the ocean. Her majesty winds into our pores, our nostrils,
changing our physical composition. Our minds shift, our mitochondria
register the messages she brings on a cellular level. And those
ripening scents of lavender blossom, honey-laden hives, maturing
honeysuckle and browned tipped field grasses mix into her briny caldron
casting spells upon us all.
To some, it registers joy. To others, sadness. And every possible
variation between these extremes. The stories, brought to one another,
determined by what we know, what we choose to see, feel and believe. The
impact of a force great and encompassing as the ocean herself, promises
transformation. This is the water's edge after all, and we precariously
walk along her bounty with all her gifts before us. Nestled in the
continuum of the seasonal unfolding.
Kat
26 July 2018
Mercury retrograde
