A Mourning Symphony   A quiet thunder muffled in the drums of cheap, thrift store speakers for years the volume knob was lost on a number line, stuck at a low grumble, generic static so pervasive I confused its cancer for consonance.   I forgot I was a string q

Trust   Yesterday I found a faith stone on Barry Beach. Sand and rain and sea testing its word in relentless ways. I took the pebble to a rock pool and found a dismembered crab. The sky peppered gulls and all their noise. I plopped the weight from my hand into salted water, like an alien from another universe.     Thimble   The sea breeze cuffs a skirmish of salt across the buckthorn; choughs clown above our path that clings to cliffs; sky, scarfed with cloud, ribbons through

I have been whacking caterpillars with an index finger Off my window sill. Down my wall. Into her soil. Not so today. She has brought her wiggly body with her again and creeps slowly on my cement like a slug. Thick like my thumb, she is nesting an explosion inside. I don’t think they’re that different - caterpillar and slug mishy mushy slow things that I was taught to squish. Instead I look at her today and know her for the first time She is ravenous of course - carrying a he

1. the lake lives in light its raindrops surf sun and deep now, I'm gold. now, here 2. an ocean of clouds drowns out daylight. fog lamps...

Interlude There is a long sea that burns blue beyond the pine road to my house. I heard a knock on my door each morning for a year as the...

The cars sped by at eighty where the surfers entered the water, paddling out between cars. No driving home that day when another wave...

Tectonic Love   Plate margins shift Under currents convect Het up conversations   Three types: Volcanic explosions, Tsunami, Earth quakes...

For the Crew of a Downed U-Boat Can I rest the heart assured, rewind the world in scriptured whorls; stride godly on the sea?...

Social commentary On love and friendship While being like the fundamental Vessel of a ship, And letting a mighty Titan Blow with an ocean...

The aircon is not currently working   Making out wouldn't cost us a thing, I bemused (While the two of us counted our change) “We could...

A Bad Weather Friend At first glance you appear to just want to hold my hand while the storm rages above. But you never walk barefoot in...

Ocean Breathe  Sunrise and sometimes sunset Ocean Breathe                                                                                ...

Tear Drops   I saw your tears Drop frozen on snow-painted ground by chilly winter winds to wait your heart’s delight. I hear my feet...

River Man   My brother loved the river, He always watched the quick stream; As if it were his life passing by.   Love is not a floating...

A purple two shades lighter than expected deepens into an ocean shifting   with shadows and squiggles that glow yellow, floating above...

I slap the water, hard, with Arms whirring like Bicycle pedals.   Once a second, as pedantic as A metronome, I tilt my Head and gasp...

The Thinning of a Moon Snail Shell   Dark tides, etched with pearl, whet the shoreline where   a frill like chanterelle rises beyond its...

Tiny spiny porcelain clenches, pinching             of salty epiphany, pen-point peepers- peering, peeking for predators while questing...

Poseidon coaxes us like stray cats, tossing sea glass like kibble. My oldest friend and I scour the Monterey shoreline. Sand mites nip...

Poet, aphorist or sometimes meanderist; Gerard Sarnat is widely published internationally in print and online. He has been nominated for...