Tag Archives: dive

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Seal of approval

Signed, sealed, delivered but not aligned
we arrange ourselves with hands like fins
we arrange ourselves according to time
the island shrinks as the tide rolls in
the island hides in the moon pulled sea
our fur warmed in the sun’s brief kiss
we roll in the waves and dive so deep
we roll into the water to play and fish
the fish flock to school to avoid our teeth
we chase and catch and eat our fill
now the island is a shallow rock reef
the flash of the fish as they come to grief
the tide rolls in, the tide rolls out
we climb back on our island as it climbs out

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I walked south on Marrowstone Island two days ago. The tide was starting to come in. The little island is covered when the tide is high and everyone has to go swim. I think they were enjoying the sun as much as I was.

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: align.

And speaking of seals:

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down

I’ve let myself come down again

it’s not really quiet down here
whales
the earth shuddering
new mountains being born
the ebb and flow
as the earth makes love to the moon
and small bubbles

I am quiet
when I let myself
go all the way down

the ocean is not quiet, but it is dark
dark as a dungeon
damper than dew
I keep sinking

and my eyes slowly adjust
my lungs adjust too
it hurts like knives at first
but I adjust faster than i used to
like the sea lions
I can go down and get back up
no bends
I have learned from them
I hold the oxygen
and let the nitrogen out slowly
through my gut

my eyes adjust
and then they come
the glowing ones, slow and fast
like ghosts swimming towards me
maybe they are my dead
someday I will join them

I expect to return this time
maybe
or not
I don’t know if I will find pearls
or a leviathan
who will swallow me whole
and barely notice

this time I walked in
myself
I don’t blame you
or family or past or circumstances
it is time for me to go down
I go
down and down and down
deep

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grebe!

I think this is a Western grebe. Or a Clark’s. There was a pair together down by the water Saturday when it was stormy.Β  They were fishing quite happily.

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Together and then one dives.

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It was hard to steady the zoomed camera in the wind. Here is without the zoom:

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And both dived:

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lunar

Who is this diving? Can you tell?

Whew, at the end of Blogging from A to Z, happy things all month. I am tired. This weekend I went to see my daughter at college. We went for a walk and saw the above bird. More than one. Have you guessed?

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This is a Common Loon, in breeding plumage, here.

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I love the precise collar of black and white that stops at the back of the neck. They swim much lower in the water than our mallards, and the mallards don’t dive.

Ready to dive:

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Gone!

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Rest from the Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Right now we have 248 people who have completed it: here.

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grasp

For the Daily Prompt: grasp.

Oh, a coot, a lovely coot, in the early morning. I don’t want to grasp it, really, but I was trying to capture the moment when it ducks under the water. I failed and got this:

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Coots always look a bit like wind up toys to me, different from the ducks. They move more jerkily. They look a little bit mechanical. I think the neurological wiring is more primitive than ducks, but look, it works and they’ve survived! I can’t argue with that!

I will keep trying to catch that up and dive motion….