1. Water: The Beach
There will always be beauty.
Sometimes you’ll have to hold it
with cold, wet hands
while small, biting flies yip at your ankles.
But there will always be beauty –
slick, green kelp leaves with golden bladders filled with air;
seaweed tie-dyed bright red, maroon, and pink by the water;
the lacy, fanned cartilage of an unrecognized animal;
waves that wash in,
wash out.
Rocks becoming sand,
waves becoming flat.
The mystery of the moon’s pull.
Pelicans diving,
sandpipers laughing.
Smooth rocks that fit in the palm of your hand.
Blue sky,
cloud banks.
Cold, foam-tipped waves
scrubbing your memory clean.
There will always be beauty.
2. Earth: Eucalyptus
She takes what she needs,
feeds on sunlight, air, water, earth.
Her green-leafed branches rise
above the manzanita, ferns, and moss,
swelling like ripe veins.
She rubs the pulpy muscles of her loveliness
against the perfect fit of the sky.
With a love as hungry as her roots
she loves herself enough to let herself tower.
I glimpse her cool, pungent presence,
her creamy brown limbs, and
stand a little taller,
breathe a little more deeply,
allow myself to become a little more
me.
3. Air: Moth Wing
A surprise of fuzzy brown, cream and peach
calligraphied lines
tilted between dark cracks in the
bumpy brick sidewalk.
4. Fire
Bougainvillea flames
singe the air
with red sparks
that save no burning
for later.
5. What if the world really were
full of such things.
