1.6 On Beaches

ON BEACHES

by Eric Chaet

I’ve stood on beaches of sand & beaches of stone
&, barefoot, paced the shallow surf
looked across vast quiet & vast tumultuous surfaces
considering depths I’d likely never know
lands I’d likely never visit—
phonemes, cuisines, myths & customs
fears, ambitions, struggles for power.

I’ve stood awed at the limits of my capacities
peering back into my own past & into history
before the present day’s particular circumstances—
celebrities & unknowns, audacious or timid, scrupulous or not
articulate, silent, or silenced by ridicule, force, or threat
weapons & money, rich & poor
races, nations, migrations, wars
taxes, machinery, buildings, vehicles, tools
the geared economy
punishing whoever dares to appear different
wild & domestic plants & animals
storms, grudging drudgery, births & deaths
thrilling triumphs, sharp disappointments, sudden steep anxieties
love & sex, infants, schools, prisons
memories, games, melodies, rhythms, rhymes
accidents, illnesses, aspirations, superstitions
dogmas, advertising, beliefs widely held
some crazy, some wise but shunned
some tenuous as a flame cupped in the wind
some raging & fiercely affirmed again & again—
& back before history, even before humanity
the spinning, orbiting Earth, & before the Earth.

I stand at the brink of the future
trying to imagine a different & better outcome
than what has gone before & what prevails now—
& how I might contribute to that turning of the tide.

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Picture: Waugh