August Journal


     Blusterous day:
           breakers high
           sun in and out
           mackeral sky
           goldenrod weather
           salt-scented breeze
           dotting the sand dunes
           stunted pine trees
           preview of autumn --
           run up the beach - nip
           in the air -- 
           into the spray, dip
           in the ocean
           (shiv'ry but nice)
           how was the water?
           "like ice, like ice"
           end of a season
           winter ahead 
           summer almost over
           where has it fled?


     Notes: State of Maine Writer's Conference 1977. Tied for second prize
           in popular voting for serious poetry.