From the Cabrillo College literature and film instructor, a poem titled ‘Point Lobos Tidepool Encounter.’
Point Lobos Tidepool Encounter
Stunned rock breathed in my hand,
smudged my palm with reddish ink,
then shouldered away when dropped
shuddering into the sea’s stink.
The smudge of reddish ink
winked like sunset’s flare
and shouldered into the sea’s stink
leaving me dazed and charred.
I blinked as sunset flared
and observed the wrinkled skin
that left me dazed and charred
where water whitened it again.
Felt my wrinkled skin,
creases bloodied by a stain.
Where water whitened it again
a stranger’s hand poured in.
Creases bloodied by a stain
I shuddered away from the drop,
a stranger’s hand poured in,
stunned rock that breathed in my hand.
My first book, Strong-Armed Angels, was published by Hummingbird Press, and two of its poems were selected by Garrison Keillor for The Writer’s Almanac. My second, Devils Messengers, about the war in Iraq, awaits publication. I teach literature and film at Cabrillo College, where I edit the Porter Gulch Literary Review. I live with my love, the historian Cherie Barkey, and our two children, Jules and Amina Barivan, in Santa Cruz.
Local Poets, Local Inspiration, edited by Robert Sward, appears weekly online and monthly in Santa Cruz Weekly. Selections are by invitation.