color in motion

sea water aggravated by stubborn basalt

gray-green whipped to blue-green

veined with foam white smashed

against purplish brown to billow

into misting columns rising

collapsing into whitened channels

in rock vulnerable from melting

cooling, now attacked again and again

with each wave clawing at its surface

as it recedes gray-green again with

bits and specs of earth ensnared

and yielded to mother ocean

creative builder as well as destroyer

waves under rain

frantic roiling beneath haranguing gray

sky agonized delivering days of rain

in only hours

waves crouching, heaping, lifting

conceiving hills, mountains, cliffs

birthing white water against ancient basalt creating spouts, spurts, jets leaping, roaring white

leaving short-lived miniature waterfalls

and rivulets between rock faces

as they retreat, exhausted, against

the next oncoming, wind-driven contraction

mjNordgren  12/6/2023  at Tidal Raves, Depot Bay, OR

Depot Bay, Oregon

seagulls smell leftover French fries