BRIEF INTERVALS OF HARMONY

By Charles Pierre.

The incoming tide cuts a ragged edge

along the Atlantic shore, where a woman

stands at the start of April, the sharp wind

ripping her hair from its clasp, the rush

of frigid water numbing her bare feet.

Beside the heave of indifferent waves

and carnage of surf, the smashed bodies

of sea life churning amid pebbles and foam,

she nonetheless smiles at the cloudy sky,

closing her eyes at times for bursts of sun

to warm her lids, breathing with the rhythm

of the current so that fearful voices within

might drift out and fade in the gigantic air.

She knows how the cruel discords of nature

are balanced by brief intervals of harmony,

when the beach becomes a shelter of water,

wind and light, where a solitary woman,

intent only on the elements before her,

can sink her feet into the wet ocean sand

and merge with the seascape of early spring.

Editor’s Note:   We received this beautiful spring poem from Charles Pierre along with the note below to Blogfinger.  I am delighted to post Mr. Pierre’s evocative and emotional poem.  It is especially appreciated here because of his relationship with Ocean Grove and because his muse for this poem is the Atlantic Ocean which brings all of us moments of harmony.  —Paul Goldfinger, Editor  @Blogfinger

Dear Paul:    

Charles Pierre, poet. Photograph by Marcella Kerr.

Greetings from Manhattan. I and my companion, Marcella Kerr, are long-time visitors to Ocean Grove, who regularly stay at The Bellevue Stratford Inn on Main Avenue

My poem, “Brief Intervals of Harmony,”was  composed on the OG boardwalk in 2009.  My photo was taken  on the OG beach by Marcella Kerr in 2009.

 I am the author of four poetry collections Green Vistas, Father of Water, Brief Intervals of Harmony, and Coastal Moments. Over the past 35 years, my poems have appeared in numerous literary journals, both print and online, in the United States and Canada.

 Marcy and I wish you continued success with your wonderful website.

Sincerely,  Charles Pierre

CELTIC WOMAN: