how to see the ocean

 Maine and Its Water

water is everywhere, 

and also mostly invisible to daily life,

the state boasts a long coastline,

intricately woven into the land,

the ocean so easily accessible

that lobsters, shellfish, haddock, and more,

find their way from the depths 

to being savored on the plates,

yet the roads usually are of the functional,

getting from here to there,

with only an occasional glimpse

of an expanse of flat-wrapped salt water,

rarely, except in the national park, is the view out 

celebrated with overlooks by the road,

maybe a view of a harbor with idyllic anchored boats is presented,

for that, it's ok for a town, a restaurant,

to notice the water,

I miss being able to center my world upon the surface of the water,

for, to me, that is a required first step

to imagining the depths and breadths

of subtlety and audacity

teeming beneath the placidity

that great expanses of level sea express,

too easily we slip into lack of notice,

I think about an English manor

in which the upstairs, masters and mistresses,

required the downstairs workers,

but rarely noticed them for themselves,

the ocean deserves better.

by Henry H. Walker

October 6, ‘26