A photo I took while snorkeling off Cat Island, Bahamas in 2006.
I plunge into the sea
And find myself
I am there
Among the sargassum
Swimming with blue tang
My breath an echo
Constant as the surf
I am there
Dissolving into sun beams
Buried in rippled white sand
With the eagle ray
until a shadow floats over me
and I burst forth
I am there
MR 6/12
I’m floating in the warm waves at sunset, scanning the ocean floor for bright tropical fish and the waving antennae of spiny lobsters peeking from under their rocky hiding places. I imagine I’m a mermaid, my body undulating through the salty sea, floating grass tickling my scales. I lift my head periodically, the water rolling gently over my body as I keep an eye on my beach bag, although my concern is truly unnecessary. I am nearly alone. Only a few other people dot the beach, and after half an hour or so, I am the only one left. I emerge from the surf, and leave my snorkel, then head back in to float in the warm water. I stand, grab a handful of sargassum and shake it over my palm, then smile in wonder at the tiny creatures wiggling against my skin. Baby shrimps and a little crab scramble furiously over my hand, searching for their sea weed home. I feel gentle ridges in the sandy ocean bottom under my feet, their wavy shape carved by the moon’s gravitational dance. Feeling completely at peace, I leave the sea. The balmy air chills my wet skin.
An island floats on the horizon
surrounded by exquisite blueness.
Sea and sky perfectly blended
on earth’s palette.
I drive to work beneath the hanging bellies of rain-laden clouds, who promise fecund drops to nurture earth. The porous limestone of the islands mirrors my own creative skin, both hungry for replenishment, and awaiting the deluge. For me that downpour comes in the hours and minutes of summer when my time is my own. For the Keys, it is the afternoon thunderstorms that form cloud-towers in the sunny heat, then burst into thunder-claps and fleeting downpours, only to dissolve into sunsets of breath-taking beauty. Earth’s creative expression is my inspiration! And so I drive on with cloud grayness holding me to the ground, counting the days until I can build my own cumulus towers of ideas and images; until I too am replenished.
illucidation 