This poem was selected for the Rhythm and Verse Literary and Music Salon this year. Poems are selected by the actors and are performed for a selected audience. The event is always enjoyable as it's a chance for poets, artists, musicians and audiences to mix and mingle. This year, in true 2021 fashion, it was a virtual salon. I was honored to have actor Marcia Saunders read the poem aloud, giving it such life and emotion!
Leo Rising in July
When you walk on the beach at night and see the ocean alive, it is always a sweet jolt.
For some reason, you had believed that as the sun set, the ocean followed it at twilight.
The waters were rolled and hidden away until could be revealed at dawn’s break.
But it’s not.
It’s still there for you,
open under a starry batik sky;
wave
after wave,
crashing
against the sand,
soothing and
smoothing
the stones with a steady pulse.
You love to dig your toes into the wet sand as the white-capped waters greet you,
clapping about your ankles, stinging your calves with salty grains.
The music of the waves, an ancient tempo, hushes and lulls your soul.
Then there is that magical moment of illusion when the waters rush away
and you feel like you are moving, being towed into the water.
But you are just standing still.
Or are you?
You look to the night sky to anchor yourself.
You see the moon in her fullness, dripping white lights into the water.
You wait for the ocean to bring the moonlight to you in serene ripples.
But, to touch the moon, you must step into the water,
choose to become part of the wave,
be the foam soaking in the light and the dark.
For a moment, a fearful thought grips you.
What if…
But, you look to the night sky to anchor yourself.
You shake and shimmy your body,
and pull your toes from the sand with a quick march.
You inhale deeply.
You dive headfirst into the warm blackness of the ocean.
