The Happy Castaway [Common Meter]

Adrift at sea for days and days,
who knows how it will end?
Your body sloshes like the waves,
but as your mind descends.

Your mouth is dry; your body pruned.
In thirst, the water taunts.
But - ever wet - your skin sloughs off.
When soaked, the water haunts.

The sun burns hot. Then fog rolls in,
and senses are deprived.
And washing up on vacant shores,
you find that you've arrived.

You know not where - but feel relief.
Land monsters can't be worse
than those that grab you by the mind
while high seas you traverse. 

Sundown Ship [Haiku]

as the sun sets,
a ship moves out to sea
what's ocean dark?

Rocky Shores [Free Verse]

a rocky monolith,
jutting from the sea,
is smashed by waves.

overgrown with moss
& gnarled trees.

battered brutally
& unrelentingly,

and yet unchanged 
& unmoved.

 birds confidently
settle upon the rocks
&
take off again,
leisurely.

Faux Ocean [Haiku]

clouds in the valley
look like water at the shore
on a gorgeous day

Ocean Awe [Haiku]

lost in ocean awe,
still enough that fish gather
in one's shadow

A One-Drop Ocean, Briefly [Tanka]

waves smash onto rock.
fountain spurts arc skyward.
one droplet hangs
for an instant, flips & drops,
reuniting with its sea.

DAILY PHOTO: Sunrise in a Rocky Bay

Taken in Ha Long Bay in January of 2016

Pale Blue [Haiku]

pale skies stretch 
across the great beyond,
dwarfing an angler

The Churn [Free Verse]

On the shore
of angry seas

I hear the crash
of foamy waves,

but miss the 
crisp sudsy sizzle
that one hears
on a sunny summer day.

That nuanced note
is lost to the Churn