the fossil record

<<32>>

The Beach, ca. 1969

for Helen Deese (1925-2010)

The world was never safe.

Each wave ahead was always

Green and menacing

And full of life.

Unlike a person or an angry dog,

A wave won't speak its threats

Beforehand. It just throws you down,

Roars

Its bright, diminished triumph

And falls back into the sea.

As old as all the fingers

On my hand, I could dig for sand crabs

With a blue translucent plastic

Cup. Or just look.

The world was, and is, fantastic.

You knew that, and you know it.

You held all my years that day

And taught me

How to leap above some broken waves

And dive beneath the rise of others.

R. S. Deese