Patty Patten Tiffany

Trois Poesies

 

 

North Wind

 

The north wind turned his face to us last night.

Long and lean, a snarl for a smile.

Shrill and relentless, he snaked across the bight,

Tossing the drapes

And jangling the halyards

Of the big boats in our marina home.

 

An ominous sound…

Breaking the spate of steamy days

And our lollygagging in paradise.

 

Now we shiver at night,

Bent like skinny coconut palms

In high wind.

 

 

 

The Reef

 

Two splashes

And we are in,

Among the waving fans,

Brain coral mounds,

Flashy reef colors.

 

Winding through intricate carvings

Bathed in undulating light.

Each arch, each outcropping

With new dabs of green and blue, beckoning.

 

So we glide down, going deeper,

Escaping together,

Skin shedding off as

Warm water comforts our frail frames.

 

We are sleeker now, with scales for skin,

Darting away to hide under ledges

Happy to watch the sky forever

From below.

 

 

 

Sea Rise

...for little Donnie

 

Towers of green roil over brown foam.

Purple-gray clouds erupt across the horizon.

Storm signs everywhere

announce the tempest

of man.

 

Rushing waters assail the seawall,

spraying a warning,

eating soft bites of earth,

as islands disappear

and coral buds bleach,

 

while we hunker

behind shrinking dunes,

cowering in the growing gale,

 

until death washes over us.

 

 

 

Patty Patten Tiffany until recently was domiciled in Key West, Florida. We're not quite sure where her domiciled ended up apres Irma, but we wish her Godspeed.