July 31*

blustery blood sun
          earth turning fast away
          ragged tops of swept waves
          dusting off           into
          the churn and furl of all

                    caravans of carved canoes
                    plying spanish galleons
                    lumbering russian fur-seekers
                    gillnetters, purse seiners
                                                                      kayaks, sailboats

                              and the pilgrim from on the beach in his last act
                              trolling in his skiff, for the ghost salmon
just off shore

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