Couple at Dawn on East Beach
It rained all night & dark waves sigh & stretch
here on this cloudy beach, where, ninety years ago,
someone planted a tripod, clicked & caught
other waves in a camera’s obscure chamber.
But that couple, there, vaguely visible in the picture’s
heart? What became of them?
She turns away from him to face the Pacific,
he pulls her back, as if asking for a kiss.
Had it rained all night for them too? Did they even
have a story beyond this fading moment,
boxed, labeled, & stored on a library shelf?
*******
How deserted this beach. No couples, no gulls
only this tide and me. But then, through the mist,
a first sun-blush. The light widens. A breeze rises
& drives away the mist. The cliff’s grasses shake
rain beads from their bowed heads & there’s an instant
shiver, a sway: the whole cliff-side wakes, wild
into day-break. I turn around to walk away
& only then do I see it for the first time today,
my shadow — a long sigh stretched out on the sands.
After the Edson Smith Photo Collection East Beach Looking East
Laure-Anne Bosselaar is the author of four poetry books, the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and edited five anthologies. She won the James Dickey Prize for Poetry in 2020. Her new book, These Many Rooms, came out from Four Way Books. She teaches at the Solstice Low Residency MFA Program and served as Santa Barbara’s Poet Laureate (2019-2021).