surfer

the waves have stripped the girl to her base
she strides so regally through the foam,
face upturned to sunlight
broken shells strike at her calluses
small fish suck at her legs
slight fingers drift along the surface, enjoying the tension
of water-meets-air

there, to the left
a buoy once cleanly flayed
red to white, floats smudged with stains once-living
chained to a rusting cage below

and on the horizon
a clean line of snowy gulls
signs ‘away!’

gravity compresses and lifts
a swelling of liquid sapphire topped with sequins
that once destroyed six villages

she turns and faces its being
rushing toward her obliviously
at the last moment, as it curled its arms
in a crushing embrace
her toes reject the rigid vacant sea-urchin homes
and she rises like a gull to the crest of the wave
inhales the foamy light-meets-liquid
rides its crest until it breaks
and deposits her with a fond sigh on the damp slanted earth

she rises
fumbles under the weight of gravity and
the awkward slant of her surfboard
fixes her blue-and-white striped suit to dispel wandering looks
of pepper-haired men with sunscreen on their noses
and black orbs masking their eyes.