Bowen Island

By Jeannine Marie Pitas - Buffalo, New York, USA - 2 August 2013

 

For Daniel Cowper

 

I

 

light

dancing on water

when you reach to touch,

it retreats

 

but it still

touches you

 

II

 

seasickness

relieved

when you reach the top deck

 

ocean spreads out before you

and there stands the mountain

where the Ark finally halted

 

III

 

deep-forest licorice root

salmon berries, salal

Honeymoon Lake hidden

among pines, Douglas firs

 

the berries in your mouth

release a spirit

that spreads its roots

rustles against

the walls of your chest

and caresses you

from the inside

 

IV

 

the dock sways

as you let your feet hang

over the cold waters of

the Pacific

 

the ocean you try to hide from

deep amid island firns,

red cedars, mushrooms beneath

fallen maple leaves --

 

the ocean that holds

the world inside it

will always come back

to find you