Sailing Boats, Morning
The ship’s shadow ripples like spilled ink
on the water’s soft blue gauze as if a clumsy
scribe upset his bottle, distracted by
the way the settling sun has stained the tops
of the great brown sails with hearth fire’s dying coals.
The harbor is a yellow haze haunted
by ghost ships and the hazy sun hanging
like an early lantern halos the junk
where a lone boatman can hardly believe
such a blaze burns in so watery a world.
* * *
I fear I am remiss in mentioning that I am greatly indebted to John R. Herreid, who has recently begun a Facebook page, J.R.’s Art Place, where he shares images that are in the public domain as well as his own artwork. John is a great curator of art and it’s so lovely to have so much inspiration constantly arriving at my virtual doorstep. People may complain that social media is full of the worst that humanity has to offer; but it also has the best. Thanks to folks like John my social media feed is full of fine art, poetry, and interesting stories about science, history, art, faith, and literature. Facebook is what you make of it and I choose to make mine a virtual salon where I have conversations about all the finer things.
