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Chant by Peter Bergquist

 

 

We sit alone and watch the waves.

We see the working of the wind;

it flips the waves and whips them back,

throws their spume into the air,

sends the wayward, scattered spray

flying up into the air.

We stare at silken waves of glass

which rise and fall,

rise and fall and break and shatter,

washed ashore as foaming surf.

We hear the waves,

hear their crashing and their dying,

lapping waves that lick the land

and then withdraw,

leaving rainbowed iridescence

on the surface of the sand.

We drink the waves.

***

We walk the sand down to the shore

and feel the heat beat on our soles.

We let the waves wash on our feet

and feel the cold between our toes.

We find the rocks, the rounded rocks,

the worn and smooth and rounded rocks.

We pick them up and close our hands

around the hard and glassy stones.

We stroke the cool, the satin stones.

We eat the stones.

***

We watch the sun

as it is setting in the west.

We see it sink below the waves,

watch the yellow go to orange go to red,

see the colors disappear into the sea

and seem to die,

then flare again and fill the sky,

fade again and finally die.

We gulp the sun.

***

We build a bonfire on the beach.

When darkness falls, we light the blaze

and watch its fervid flames rise high,

feel the heat upon our faces,

see the fitful fire fall,

turn the dwindling driftwood over,

rub its throbbing underbelly,

loose the glowing, pulsing embers,

see vermilion sparks ascending,

watch them wafting to the heavens,

quickly flickering and dying,

ever-dying in their flight.

We smoke the fire.

***

We see the stars.

We stretch our bodies on the sand

and put our hands behind our heads

and lie there staring into space,

watching ancient constellations

wheeling slowly in the sky

and the Milky Way above us

softly streaking black with white

across the belly of the night.

We swallow stars.

 

***

 

About the Author:

Peter Bergquist is a native of Los Angeles with a BA in English from Princeton University and an MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Antioch University Los Angeles. He worked for many years in the Hollywood film industry, primarily in production. He is married with two daughters and is currently teaching English in the Los Angeles Unified School District. His poems have been published in The New Verse News, The Chickasaw Plum and On the Outskirts: Poems of Disability.