Like the Surf Loves the Shore
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| Summer Squall by Winslow Homer |
LIKE THE SURF LOVES THE SHORE
Across the tan lines
the tongue licks,
sucks the half moon band
closer to heaven
until
it narrows to a tight lip,
then swallows.
It repeats
and repeats
and repeats.
Spume splats the rocks
in a rhythm matched by
sloppy goodbye kisses
that mean hello
in their private
tongue.
Heat meets cool,
flows,
churns,
steaming within.
The surf batters the coast
as hunger batters ecstasy
within them both,
their final kiss
gone with the middle wind
carrying love
to the heights.
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Shared with the ekphrastic lovers over at DVerse Poets
This poem appeared in "One Night Stanzas" available from Big Table Publishing.
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©2015 Christopher Reilley
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Such a vivid and unique personification.
ReplyDelete"sloppy goodbye kisses
that mean hello
in their private
tongue." I love that!
you bring the whole scene fully alive with this personification - so well done, so vivid, so much to like especially that opening stanza
ReplyDeleteI agree. This poem is amazing!
DeleteI love the play of nature as you have imagined it to be. The flowing, churning and steaming within is palpable.
ReplyDeleteI love the way you describe the sea working its weight on the shore.
ReplyDeleteI waited for the 'repeat and repeat and repeat' refrain to repeat again :) It is the focal point of the poem,
ReplyDeleteThat opening stanza just grabbed me and it only got better from there. But..
ReplyDelete"sloppy goodbye kisses
that mean hello
in their private
tongue."
That's just gorgeous!.