Kelp ribbons roll lithely in the watery verge
Here, at this pebbly place on the rim of the Pacific
By extension all the seven oceans
All the Mobius stripped beaches that girdle these waters
Connected as immediately as any wave
This is one spot on the edge of the largest swimming hole on earth
There is no crashing surf here now
Just insistent lapping of lakelike wavelets
Tumbled and bleached forest bones border the beach
Thrown out of the great maw during winter storms
When the tides surrender what they will
Cold grey water a disguised mystery masquerading as the sky
Or revealing the black depths beneath the skin of this strange animal
That feeds us and eats us
Ocean, the supreme seductress and the original sin
The soup kitchen that feeds the DNA of all life
Ocean, always ready to betray our affections
With primordial fury
Don’t take it personally, we’re told
This mooned lover gets pulled out of shape regularly
Throws outlandish temper tantrums
Then, settles back into rhythm
Metronomic as clockwork
Gentle as the crispwind breeze in my face
Ready to fall for the same old tricks again
David Trudel © 2013
createdavidt 
Ocean Wind
Breezes fresh off the ocean
Cleanse my breath
Bringing with them a faint whiff of pineapple
Hints of cinnamon and spices
Only an echo of killing field turmoil
A guilty sniff of garbage gyre
If there is radioactive particulate matter still lingering from Fukushima
I don’t want to know
I’d prefer to think that evaporation and condensation
Across thousands of miles of ocean
Has restored innocence to the wind
But this wind doesn’t blush anymore
Having been stripped and torn asunder too many times to tell
I share each breath with all of humanity
All creatures
All living things
Breathing in
Breathing out
Recycling this invisible presence
Neither clean nor original but vital
So I fill my lungs with the belches and farts
Of a busy world
I breathe the last heavy sigh of nameless saints
Swallow the screams of the terrified
Smell fragrances of the forgotten rotting
Take in the essence of timeless past
Formless future
Exhaling into tomorrow
Invisibly connected to forever
David Trudel © 2013
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Filed under Poetry
Tagged as blank verse, climate, environmentalism, free verse, Fukushima, Great Pacific Garbage Gyre, innocence, killing fields, metaphor, natural history, nature of time, Pacific Ocean, poetry, social commentary, wildlife, wind