words & art by shé

bookshelf

Tag: ocean

  • Intruders

    Sometime between yesterday afternoon and this morning, someone crawled under Habibi’s hull, moved a coconut oil container from on top of a wooden box, then took the wooden box. This was a box—one of two—I had found nearby, after a set of rude humans shipped out and left their mess behind. I was using it…

  • Coyote

    I met a coyote this morning while walking cerro de ballenas (Whale Hill). Blonde, slim, curious. After watching awhile and rotating her big ears, she trotted off toward the ocean. A few weeks ago I saw another one, larger, on the beach below, loping along at low tide. Several years ago in Northern California, I…

  • Compañera

    Tired from a late night, I eased into the ocean and stroked away from shore after dawn. Several meters out, my eyes snagged on a large fish, same length as me, swimming in the same direction, though below and to the right. Long body, long nose, silvery gray in the gloom. My brain then registered…

  • Diary of a Reluctant Traveler

    The memoir is out! Winner of the Rainbow Quill for Best Travel Writing, and the Minerva Prize—nab your copy now! What folks are saying: Shé is wow-pow: world of wonder, piece of wonder. She reminds us how to live.—Dominick Brah, Oregon Coast Trail cyclist Learning to surf at 54? Traveling across the continent solo? Yes! Inspiring…

  • Bi

    Bisexual is not a synonym for promiscuous. I recently read two casual slurs against bisexuals, by folks who should know better. Let me clear this up right now: bisexual is a word that simply means gender is irrelevant, attraction-wise. It does not mean a smorgasbord of sexual activity. It means that a specific person appeals…

  • Sea Change

    MY NEW BOOK! Sea Change: stories & splashes In the style of Sandra Cisneros, Elizabeth von Arnim, Raymond Carver, Jill A. Davis, and Robin Sloan, this collection features 42 short and flash fictions interspersed with colorful abstract expressionist paintings. Here’s an excerpt from “Unlikely:” We were an unlikely pair: a white girl still in high…

  • Rapunzel

    Seahorses dance with their mates every morning. What kind of world would this be if humans did that too? Here’s an excerpt from “Rapunzel,” courtesy of my forthcoming book, Sea Change: stories & splashes by Shé: Rapunzel rappelled down the tower wall, landed lightly on her feet, and headed west. Her newly shorn hair fluttered…

  • Erin Slade

    The Méxican Navy marching band practices several mornings a week near a local elementary school. I fall into step with the drums on my way back from the swimming hole. They are slowly slowly improving, coalescing into uniform pitches and tones. I admire their tenacity. I, too, have been practicing something difficult, though I used…

  • BellaMar

    “I am myself. I am singular.” —Faerie queen in Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett 30 months in and I’m still surprised that I live on a boat. High and dry at the moment, but still in a sea-going vessel. “Ridiculous!” I laugh. Life is a twisty-turny adventure, that’s for sure. Habibi was recently…

  • Love Story

    Up late last night, working on a book of stories and splashes (art). Who knew that living in a boatyard could be so productive? Shoulda hauled out long ago…  Here’s an excerpt from “Love Story:” Our hands speak another language, independent of the kissing language. Our hands are chatterboxes, always commenting, caressing, caroming from hill…