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Oceanside Pier, thirty seconds

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Gavilan laughs


The river coursed and screamed
like a hundred angry stallions
the recent storms
filling its muddy chalice
with the 
collective fruit and power
of a hundred earthly streams.

It has been many years since the Santa Margarita roared
back in '93 for sure
we are reminded of its immense strength
during wonderful weeks such as this one
still a comparative whisper

The trees leaves have turned a burnt brown, the tall sycamores once again
 succumbing
 to the inevitable near monochrome of winter. Nature, lacking chlorophyl
 looks toasted
yet 
vivid and wet, hyper attenuated
imbued with the magical
power
of repeated thunder and storm.

The hawks are starting to reappear
at distinctly new vantages, a signal of a new cycle, priming,
listening for a quiet distant chime
waiting to begin the familiar baillar de primavera 
yet one more time again.

Saw two Cooper hawks together on the phone wire yesterday 
and let me tell you
that's rare.

I feel this land's particular brand of magic, 
I can see it in the early morning air,
 I smell it in the mold of decaying leaves, 
I hear it in the rush of the Santa Margarita,
 I taste it in the evening chill.

The nights were cold and frosty
before the rains
the fields by the mailbox
covered with bright icy crystals
as I drove out of the winding river valley at dawn.

Now it's just wet.
El NiƱo. The capricious child.
Got hailed on today in Carlsbad.
Thankfully the rain keeps the bitterest cold out of our fair valley.

The mockingbird sat under the palm by our window
this morning
after the deluge
smart and now out of the rain
repeating all sorts of petty gossip
most certainly better left unsaid.

The weightless little birds scamper too
 along the yard
once grass, long dirt
turning up little burnt offerings
left by last night's soaking.

It is a new year
and while things can always get worse
they can also get better
and so we hope, a vision of victory defeating a strategy of disaster approximately 83% of the time
at least according to the best available experts.

Good luck to you my friends
my fair and able shipmates
together we will navigate
and conquer any storm,
rupture or personal failing.

And even should the worst occur

please know
it will still look splendid in our life's biography
once polished and shaped up
 by a nimble and decent editor.

Best wishes this new year. Good health and good cheer.

Robert Sommers



2 comments:

Helen Killeen Bauch McHargue said...

Beautiful.

Anonymous said...

I'm reading I'm reading. Happy new year my friend. ❤️✌️✌
Deli guy