Siletz Bay On The Oregon Coast-Summer Poem

I like to walk along the bay
Smashing ocean waves roar in the distant background
But not overwhelming me with pounding
No random sea wave assaults my feet

In the summer it smells more like
The ocean beach than the ocean beach
Some microscopic creatures aren’t pulled to sea
And die, giving off a salty marine smell

When the sky is clear, it’s as blue
As the sea and the deep part of the bay
Salt air fills my nostrils, covers my beard
I feel vital, wanting to stand in some campfire’s smoke

There’s always action if you look
Sanpipers running in tandem-fast
Directed by some unknown conductor
Who understands a feeding symphony

Eagles keep an Eagle eye-
Watching from fir trees and stumps
Ever vigilant for wayward fish, shrimp
Or crabs or other birds

Sometimes large jellyfish
Flat like translucent dinner plates
Wash up on the shore
And lay there to rot or be eaten

Gulls are ever present, sometimes standing
And snoozing. They can seem to be few-
But then toss out a little food; magically
Many appear from nowhere

Herons stalk around on their stilts
Their long beaks digging into the
Soft sand for food while
They wearily survey their surrounds

An occasional boat carefully manuevers
For crabs, avoiding the deadly jaws
Of the bay, where sadly, on ebb tides,
Many have met their end

Sometimes the beautiful girl at the
End of our street walks by with her
Long legs and smile. I get
Diverted from the bay sometimes

Looking northwest, you can see the ocean
And the jaws. Whitecaps wanting access to the bay.
To the south, a compelling vista of river
Flowing into the bay, Coast Range mountains
Sentinel to the scene.

In the bay, snags sit in the shallows
Left by quickly retreating tides
Their sharp protrusions digging into soft sand
Digging deep pools of water for salty critters

This is a place for awe. Probably no place
On earth looks like this. We can’t explain
The complexity or the beauty. It breathes
Into my being, giving peace and hope.