wave-improver

... we didn't like what we saw, so we grabbed some red wine, paddled the whole bottle out into the sea with us.... the waves became "better" almost immediately. laughter, low-angle sun rays and an incoming drunk with friends is a sure way to turn mediocre waves into a world-class good time. this lasted until the brink of hypothermia, at which point we slogged back to the yurt to eat lentils, potatoes and curry: all waiting for us in the crock pot that i had the foresight to start in the morning before we left to check the surf.

after our bellies were full of stew, we crawled into our bunks and slept it off. 3 hours later we woke up to dark skies and light rain. we did a 2 hour night-hike around the cliffs of Cape Arago, amazed at the ocean's beauty-- the way it lit the cliffs and rocks with its whiteness and wave explosions. the day ended at midnight with Ryan playing the ukulele in the yurt while Faron and i devoured Ritter sport (hint, it's not actually a sport) as the rain and wind began to set in more heavily. i finished a Joan Didion memoir and fell asleep to the sound of an oncoming storm.

concrete for water

the holidays have brought me to the city, away from my home at the beach.
last night, at a party, more than one person asked me, "what are you doing in Newport?!"
and i didn't really have an answer. What do you do in Portland? Eat? Shop? Look at eachother?

because i don't do
anything
in this world, really.

when i get into my bed at night and listen to the sound
of waves
i could be anywhere, almost
and when i step outside in the dark
look up
and see Orion standing proudly
unobscured by halogen
i could be in Utah or Minnesota
but i am not.

"Your town is so blah."
he said,
and i thought,
look at all of this concrete
and noise:
Portland is like an exotic place
full of well-meaning people
(what are they doing?)
who say the right things to each other
at gatherings
(they aren't parties anymore)
and Newport is that drab
child
who
doesn't have much to say
but who, over the years, as you get
to know her
turns out to be your favorite.

Here in the city i can get
Fourme de Haute Loire
and also
rare olive cultivars
at the grocery store
but i can't pry mussels off of sea rocks
or dive for sea bass
after work,
so i guess it is a trade-off

like starlight for noise
water for concrete.