words & art by shé

bookshelf

Tag: ocean

  • Phoenix

    One cannot fly directly from Kaua’i to Baja California Sur, not on a commercial airline, anyway. Instead, I first traveled to the land of my birth, Phoenix. This makes metaphorical sense to me: new start, new life. Sluff off the old and regenerate. Back to the beginning to move onward. Today I’m in La Paz,…

  • Wahine Pool

    Two women stand on a rock above me, surveying their domain. The ocean storms have scoured the sand from between two outcroppings, and now the water rushes in and out tidally. I am carefully navigating the new pool, unsure how strong the pull out to sea will be. A wave surges in and they jump,…

  • Burn Baby Burn

    In preparation for leaving the island, I burned a box of my art. It had served its purpose: expression, joy, distraction. I am keeping the pieces I love, but where will I ship them? Where will they hang? Transitions. Man. Irritated by rampant tailgaters, I flipped one off a few days ago. Instead of backing…

  • Fish Friend

    Green, silver, tiny, and in my face. Quick fish darts to my mask: once, twice, three times. It is possible to laugh through a snorkel tube. I’ve seen at least 25 species of fish this morning. This one’s about an inch and a half, if that, two-tone: mottled green along the top half, silver along…

  • Painting

    “Paint the ocean,” said my dad, but I didn’t dare. His huge 3D map of northern California covered a wall of his house, sans sea, and I was afraid to screw it up. I was fifteen. Back in kindergarten, though, I painted a picture for my mother every day, so she would be alive when…

  • Turtle Patrol

    Don’t do it, I think and grab their ankles, just long enough to get their attention. We surface, and I spit out my snorkel. “You need to stay fifteen feet away from sea turtles.” One of the girls seems to listen, but the other quickly sinks below. Fortunately, the young honu (green sea turtle) is…

  • Essay #50: t(r)ooth

    I lost a tooth recently. Well, that’s not exactly true, I know where it is: off the coast of Kaua’i. I swam it out from Polihale State Park, past the breakers, and dropped it in the celadon water. Thank you! 53 years ago, give or take, I found a shark’s tooth on Myrtle Beach, way…

  • Essay #10: mothering

    I woke up yesterday feeling like I finally got it, the whole mother thing. If I need mothering, I can do it myself. After all, who better than me to know what I want? Expectations of my mother dropped away – freedom! Today I feel like I did before: angry at her, and sad we’re…