the Sea at Moolack

the Sea at Moolack
(a haibun)

At Moolack Beach, along the central Oregon coast, a beach of flat wet sand, spreading out at low tide, while dramatic clouds stack over the sunset. Sky and wet mirror of washed sands both the color of clouded amber, with honey and lemon highlights. Where stream meets sea, a channel of sand, a canyon perfect in every chaotic detail. Abandoned shells of dead crabs. Smooth round river stones, flat, black, sculpted. I pick up a stone, and discover it is perforated by weathering: a dreamstone. And another, white instead of black, white of weathered bone in the desert.

sea and desert
abandon driftwood logs—
gulls cry, lost voices



The lighthouse on land’s end, south downcoast, is framed by rain-veils, but no rain falls here. Waves crash far out, and the shallow sands are molten glass mirrors reflecting the sunset. I stay until I cannot see my own feet, then climb up to the road and continue on my way.

indigo night sky
gapped with broken clouds and stars:
my bed still far away