"Fishing the Dawn" and "Nighttide, Santa Marta Bay" by Lorraine Caputo

Fishing the Dawn

Day again breaks

grey, briny

mist rising from the wild sea.

Into the froth

a quartet wades,

clad only in

thin briefs, muscles

thick, firm, flexing

beneath sun-browned

skin.

Leaping over

wave heaving wave

fractured by their

thunder, these men

toss hand-lines, pull

out silvery

fish.

The young son of one

guards shorts, shirts

spread upon a

grassy slope.

Among palm fronds

birdsong begins

to punctuate

this drying morn

& the sun is

seeping through thinned

clouds.

Nighttide, Santa Marta Bay

The moon waxes

behind fractured clouds

A breeze blows

from snowy mountains

In the clear waters

people bob

with each flow

Each ebb of this sea

shushes against the

beige-grey sand

The shouts of children

slice the night

Rhythm of drums

float upon this noche

On a rock island

at the mouth

of this bay

A faro flashes

& further out are

the lights of boats

Lorraine Caputo is a documentary poet, translator and travel writer. Her works appear in over 300 journals on six continents; and 19 collections of poetry – including On Galápagos Shores (dancing girl press, 2019) and Escape to the Sea (Origami Poems Project, 2021). She also authors travel narratives, articles and guidebooks. Her writing has been honored by the Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada (2011) and nominated for the Best of the Net. Caputo has done literary readings from Alaska to the Patagonia. She journeys through Latin America, listening to the voices of the pueblos and Earth. Follow her travels at: www.facebook.com/lorrainecaputo.wanderer or https://latinamericawanderer.wordpress.com.