Gulf Shores (9 Nov, 2010)

in the morning, we walk the beach in silence,

hand in hand, bathed in sunlight,

surrounded by  blue, cloudless skies,

waves lapping rhythmically,

hypnotic, echoing the heartbeat of life;

this must be heaven;

images and words flow like electric current,

“I should have brought something

to write with,” I tell her, “I’ve written an

entire poem in my head, but I’ll never remember it.”

I’ve lost so many that way, slipping through

my fingers like liquid glass;

gone forever;

we watch a pod of dolphins, fishing just off shore,

slowly breaking the surface, bobbing and weaving,

the way it has been for thousands of years,

the talk on the news is about oil, economic crises

and recovery, but the dolphins don’t

seem to care;

and neither do I.

.

.