All Muses on Deck

Image by Alex Shapiro


All Muses on Deck

The water rushes in under the deck.
I have found heaven, and it is right here
and smells like kelp.

The expanse in front of me in all directions
correlates well to expansive,
multi-directional thinking.
And, to daydreaming, imagining, conjuring,
laughing and many other happy gerunds.

In fact, it’s so dynamic and distractingly awesomely
incredibly unbelievably strikingly heart-wrenchingly
beautiful here, it’s amazing that I get any work done at all.

Otters, seals, deer, raccoons, bald eagles,
oyster-catchers… ferries, sailboats, yachts…
currents and rip tides and wind
and waves and an inescapable sense
of not only being on a planet,
but on the apparent edge of it,
all pull at my attention.
I pick up my camera or video about as often
as I pick up my composing score pad,
wanting to somehow capture this fascinating bliss.

Looking out from Sidney, British Columbia,
across many Canadian Southern Gulf islands,
to the U.S. San Juan Islands,
there’s always something going on.
Always.

Alex Shapiro

Posted over on her site Notes From the Kelp

1. The incredible prose by Alex Shapiro.
2. Line breaks by Glenn Buttkus