SEEKING

by Lorraine Caputo

 
Waiting in long lines,
passing barefoot pilgrims
on the road …
I finally arrived here,
missing the low tide.
 
The high is quickly coming in.
I cling to leggings
as it foams around
the sea-worn wood,
the water rising, rising
above my knees,
before it ebbs away.
 
& finally to
the wider strand
where gulls & whimbrels,
cormorants rest,
waiting for the sea’s fruit
to wash ashore,
the sea’s rhythmic roar
as it rises
then breaks
silently, then creeping
up the glittering sand
& flowing back out,
rising, crashing
creeping & flowing
rising … crashing …
 
For kilometers I stroll
my prints disappearing
beneath that tide
 
I rest on a flotsam log,
listening to the sea,
watching pelicans fly low
across the pale-teal waters,
the wind rustling these leaves
on which I write this poem.
 
 
* * * * *

Lorraine Caputo is a documentary poet, translator and travel writer. Her works appear in over 400 journals on six continents; and 24 collections of poetry – including In the Jaguar Valley (dancing girl press, 2023) and Santa Marta Ayres (Origami Poems Project, 2024). She also authors travel narratives, articles and guidebooks. Her writing has been honored by the Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada (2011) and nominated for the Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize. Caputo has done literary readings from Alaska to the Patagonia. She journeys through Latin America, listening to the voices of the pueblos and Earth