It’s Renie’s intricate photo—Northern
California coast near Mendocino,
predawn or predusk (my gaze can’t govern
for sure)—darkblood sand and sea, inferno
sky of molten lava and steamy clouds
bordering bright, scorching arm of white heat
stretching over ocean’s horizon. Shroud
of seawall holds back the surge. Shadowed streaks
of sea grass surround us in foreground. Once,
my hurried hands turned the frame upside down:
A small, surreal eye of sprinkled ink, lanced
and dwarfed by shaggy lashes, sees a crown
of ebony floating on Flaming Star
Nebula’s plasma, or bright crust of Mars.
Roger Armbrust
April 18, 2009
