Deep orange-red, the exact color of the throat
Of a cutthroat trout! Pass a man writing a note
(His camera's set up) and look back -- beach black
Where he stands, crossed with great slashes of light.
Rumpling to sharp little ridges, with elegant
Black shadows, in the level light ... ripplings sent
At an angle through other ripplings cross-hatch, then
The surface quiets, and, smooth once again,
Shivers all over ... two tiny waves, blent
Head-on emerge, each going the way it went ...
New water foams in, slides back clear and thin:
The lovely loiterings, with darkness coming on,
Stay with me as I fi nish up my run,
Having had to hurry all I did today.
And nothing done well, getting it all done.
"That most exciting perversion," said Hemingway,
Of such forced haste; the feelings fray and splay.
Dressed for the chill, and under a dull sky
Gray surf from winter storms is lifting high
Far out from shore, then bouncing in loud and white,
But a kid in trunks straightens to his full height