Ocean/Mountain

By Barbara Bush

It’s different here on the left coast

We keep track of the tide tables

Wave height and rhythm is measured with every glance at the horizon

We track the predictions of the wind’s strength

We watch the boats on the ocean protectively

We know our distance above the water

We know the fastest way to get uphill and where uphill is from us

We live always with one eye on the horizon…

I spent years at home in the mountains

Mountains are constant and unmoving

Water is contained in valleys as rivers traveling a course

Weather is variable but manageable

Roads are marked and have beginnings and ends

We honor gravity by keeping an eye on the rocks above us

It all seems so solid, so permanent, so unchanging.

But now at either end of the block I live on, my home on a bluff

above the ocean, there is paint on the street telling me

I live above the tsunami line.

Strangely calming.

Yet I remain vigilant with my earthquake and tsunami bag by the door…

Barbara is on location in Newport, Oregon where she believes that each step of the journey is the journey.