Rich Moment

The sea beeeze is thick

With the moment

As if time

Were the grains of sand

On the beach,

Granular beneath our feet

And somehow transmitting silence.

This moment feels pregnant

With the ocean,

Speaking through the surf,

And the traders

Shutting down their stalls,

Heeding the encroaching night.

The tea, served in paper cups

Is as warm as the moon,

And tastes as good

As if it wasn’t just the tongue

But the skin and the tide

And wild dogs on the beach

Which tasted it.

What exactly is this rich moment

In which the body feels

As if the sea had invaded.

Perhaps it’s the heart

Or the sun

Still invigorating the skin,

Or the mind’s relinquishment.

Perhaps it’s the echo

Of the argument

And truths spoken

That leaves us empty

And tinglingly receptive.

Argument

What is the waves’ opinion

Of the couple’s fight?

For before, during and after

The sea slid landward

Then slid back,

And white noise rolled

From left to right

Along the long shore drift.

And what is the breeze’s opinion

Of the argument,

High in the rustle-top palms

And blowing from the horizon’s depth

Where the sunset,

Kaleidoscopic in the clouds,

Breaks apart in hues of molten orange.

And what is the sand’s point of view,

Shifting and flat

With each sluice

And slap of the waves,

The sunset oranging

The mirrory film

Exposed at the ocean’s call back

And salty in-breath.

Cafe

Sitting in a cafe on a cliff

Overlooking the Arabian Sea,

Waves arrive,

Barrel and arrive again,

And an offshore wind strums

The palm fronds,

While a hippie flutters

Through guitar strings

Singing his spontaneity.

A fat, sleeping dog

Dreams of freedom

Beneath the table,

Limbs spasming,

Little yelps and joyful snorts

Heralding a youthful memory.

My love

Sits beside me

Lost in a book

And the hippie’s sweet voice

Just as I am lost

In the words of this Malabar place

That seem to come

As much from the palms’ rustling

And the waves breaking

As the instrument plucked

And the bitter coffee

Aromatic on my tongue.