Mavillette
Debbie Camelin
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest 2007 (view all the winners)
Most Highly Commended
The last of the mist burns off
with the strength of morning sun
resembles heavenly curtain rising
to reveal sky, sea, shoreline.
The tide is out—way out in Bay of Fundy
leaving behind tide pools and rivulets
that sparkle applause in sunlight
while waterlogged sand absorbs warmth
drying in degrees to create expansive musical
score from shore to water's edge.
Ceaseless waves rolling gently across sand
generate ancient rhythm of unseen maestro
shaping performance of wind and gravity
sonata leaving behind soft, salty foam that quickly
dissipates with swell of next wave washing over.
Sandpipers join the concert to waltz with waves
a fox trot of footwork while foraging
until solitary seagull wings downward to scavenge
and interrupts the ensemble.
Peeps alter choreography to aerial ballet
blur of brown and silvery white that swoop
and skim ocean waves in perfect unison
before settling ashore for another routine.
Icy ocean circles ceremoniously
about my ankles as I brave numbing cold
while walking the breadth of the beach
growing accustomed to Atlantic.
And like the eighth note that skips across
the arrangement, my heart keeps beat
with the masterpiece that is Mavillette.
