Carmel Bay

 

She of the scalloped skirt

Abalone shells along your shore

flicker in the moonlight.

Day or night the rainbows dance

on your tawny white dress. 

 

 

She of the scalloped skirt

offers treasures

in each of her curves

waves lay down in petal shape

leaving glistening trails

filled with beautiful things.

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One after another

She undulates gifts at you.

There is some great pressure

to let her beauty in

and it aches to try. 

 

She of the scalloped skirt

Your cliff hips are alive.

Yellow and orange flowers

purple sage and pink 

all cascade over the edge

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So beautiful you are.  

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She with the scalloped skirt

We know your deeps run deep

between your rocks a vast canyon.

Cold rises meeting warm air

Fog comes. 

 

 

Falcons, sea otters

dolphins and whales,

cormorants

hawks and gulls

crabs and fish 

snails and limpets 

dragonflies lizards 

and frogs 

They come together to join you.

A big love fest

a choir of voices, 

life in full swing.

 

She of the scalloped skirt

Rocky shores where

Stone dragons and stone eagles

guard the tide pools of our family plot.  

My father, my sister, my mother...

their bones  and shells and parts of each

swirl in the tide pool wash

Bone or shell?

I cannot tell.

 

She of the scalloped skirt

Thank you for letting 

me lope along your hem

which rises and falls with the tides. 

Day and night on your tawny white 

we live and love and die. 

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Lauren Cottrell Banner 2016