DELIVERANCE

A seagull stands atop

a tan sandstone rock

watching white-caps

on the windswept surface

of the sea.

 

Bleached bones from

a blue whale beached

before the time of

the long days.

 

Bright white, chalky and

smooth rib bones cracked,

snapped and split from

the carcass, honed and

tapered to a flat sharp point.

 

A tool, tough enough to pry

sea-worthy planks loose

from a majestic Coastal

Redwood tree that fell

into the sea somewhere

south of Monterey and

drifted with the current

till it was tossed up on the sand

when the sky was wild

and the waves were angry.