Triolets - Seeking After Driftwood
“We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected on the deep.” - William James
1.
At the ocean front, we did not walk together
each a distant silhouette dancing in the crashing tide
soaking up glory from water, wind and weather.
At the ocean front, we chose not to walk together
no need to find comfort in the press of side to side,
no need to collect shell and sand and feathers.
At the ocean front, we found solace in not-together,
each a far-seen shadow dancing in the crashing tide.
2.
At the ocean front, we walk the sand together, bodies close,
each a soft-felt steadiness as feet wash in the tide.
At the ocean front, we walk the sand together, bodies close,
the islands that we once were now ill-remembered shadow-ghosts.
No hurry, no dancing, no efforts to scurry away wide
from dancing waters, we stand together instead to watch its shows.
At the ocean front, we walk the sand together, bodies touching close,
each a soft-felt steadiness as our feet wash in the tide.
Taking Flight
The wings dip quick
and level quick
and I can feel
knuckles of others tighten on
armrests
all around me
while within
I rest
In my mind
the wind has substance
it walks with you on the beach where
we watched it blow
sand into diamond patterns that shift
and move while
still maintaining
perfect geometry
and you wonder aloud how air can have such power
and I tell you I feel that I can
lay down upon the wind and it will
carry me
a flight path marked by cotton and
drifting sand
across what you call ‘the nothing of sky’
the air itself
my only
destination.
Judith Mikesch-McKenzie holds a Masters in Creative Writing, and has taught writing throughout the Northwest before becoming a full-time faculty in Oregon. She has traveled widely, but is always drawn to the Rocky Mountains as one place that feeds her soul. Writing is her home. Her poems have appeared or are upcoming in Calyx, Plainsongs Magazine, Meat for Tea Valley Review, Clackamas Literary Review, and over 40 others. She has published novels and textbooks, and has recently won and placed in two short story contests. She is a wee bit of an Irish curmudgeon, but her friends seem to like that about her.

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