Long Breakwater Poems

Tell her you saw me ...

Tell her I was out on the bluff at the Cape
during a gale, much too close to the rocks.
Tell her the surf was tormenting the ledges,
its roar far too loud...

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On one night, 
is it because of a bewitched full moon?
while driving my rusty shaking junk car
I became Don Quixote de la Mancha 
mounted on Rozinante holding a lance under the arm aslant,
and with a...

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she had put a band on her wrist

          in case she got lost on the journey

          ...

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The words on the next page of the letter
show us one possibility
The coincidence and inevitability of ease
Watching fireworks from an apartment balcony at night
Milk eats the sun rising over the city by the sea
You take...

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Morning broke clearly over the earth,
    loving hugs and kisses amid the "Business as Usual" atmosphere.
    The quiet hand of God raising another beautiful day,
    As...

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The harbour rests from the rolling waves			
Of a windswept and tempestuous sea			
Beyond the breakwater lay sailors graves		
Where shipwrecks in eternal sleep rest free		
Once lured upon the rocks they didn’t see		
Now ghosts of sailors take their...

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(Inspired by 'Indigo Night' by Thomas W Case)

A thousand thousand stars pierce the indigo night,
but no moon mars the canvas, or lightens velvet strokes.

Half-hearted waves slap at shoreline rocks, like tepid applause.
If the sky is...

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shuffling this scope of limited perceptions their visions

Crossing the celestials scintilating skies; deep inside tubular

Chimes lifting in the breeze to these tranquil orisons

Subliminally marked emotions rising in state; bay windows dismissing chains....

Silvertones rustic tides, receding...

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When you are watching the surging water
rushing to a breakwater by Lake Michigan
under the dusk gathering reddened sky,
and the water flies in the air for a moment
to form the spray and hits the lake’s surface,...

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—A certain weather forecast—

for he has no home to return
a pierrot painted with snow-white make-up
walks under the moonlight up and down restlessly

under the sky, the pierrot
sleeps all curled up because of the nightly chilling air,
now...

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Sailing boats, out of the water for the winter, as 
though lined up against an impending storm. All 
their halliards shaking vigorously, sounding 
like birds in flight.

Low tide and the wild geese, further out in...

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The Linda-Marie

I venture on down to the harbor, smelling the salt of the sea
Where waiting in anticipation is my sloop the Linda-Marie
In silence she sits while I board her, and cast her lines aside
Like a...

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Shuffling this scope of limited perceptions; their visions.. 
Crossing her celestial, scintilating skies; deep inside tubular
Chimes lifting amid the breeze to these, tranquil orisons ? Subliminally 
Marked emotions rising in state; bay windows dismissing chains;...

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B,


As I lay still in the darkness 
before dawn shakes off her sleep, 
my fingers excitingly caress 
the beauty of your cheeks

it's morning that lies and listens
as I kiss you another good day 
each passage...

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The orange sky
In this Atlante-an world
A sight to see
Much better than words

Breakwater so crafted
As it holds back the sea
In this harbour of Atlantis
All sailors should see

Ships so elegant
Never seen before
As they sail the waves
So far...

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At the end of the breakwater
I stand between two extremes.
On one side, the bay's agitations
and hurl of water smashing
against boulders, on the other, 
the calm lick of waves 
barely rising above a ripple. 

Such division...

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The Life of a Breakwater
		
			A walk on the sharp shingle led to where
			The dry, smooth surface felt warm to our feet,
			The pale grey stonework embedded in the beach.
			Those steps so broad and long led down...

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As I watched,
like a lion with its prey
the wave growled and snarled
while crouching, preparing to pounce.
Rushing up the sloping shingle beach,
it reached out and dragged pebbles
down into its lair.

I heard
the rasping raking of the beach...

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Waves leap over his roof again.
Coconut sentinels lose their heads.
His breakwater breaks, but he won’t 	
flee to the monsoon refugee camp.

People and the press stand amid 
the lightning from cameras. Their
rapture is with the waves...

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Mango

It’d a bitter childhood like a girl
in penury.
It could defend itself against the molestation
by pests. 
It didn’t succumb to the 
hot rays. 

Now it’s ripe, and its chubby cheeks
are so charming.
It’s a forbidden fruit, but...

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Technically, not a sea at all,
Lake Superior churns up its share of sea storms.

There is not a lot to do in Marquette, Michigan:
Except for high school drivers to "buzz the gut",
Or cruise past a courthouse...

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The breakwater of youth dims again
As I recall that fateful evening

Every gushing tide moaned
Revising the secrecy of a time

When drunken trawlers held me
In my contorted form, lightly assailed

A skirt in tatters, my locks disheveled
Where a...

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