October 2*

walk to beach
dip hand in water
dab the cold wet
to forehead

a collection of remnant molecules from
          the dark depths of rosario strait
          a skittering wave against slave trade canoe
          trickle off canyon creek
          glacier melt on mt baker
          rain off my roof
          condensate from troposphere

here, washing this beach

*Copyright 2010 by Luther Allen. This poem appears in The View from Lummi Island.