salt wind
by an'ya
(Published in the Japan Tanka Journal 2005)
in pre-dawn light
from the fishing pier we board
a deep sea vessel
whose scrawny old skipper
still calls himself "popeye"
after each storm
but before the breakwater
just two shipmates
hunting for buried treasure
with souls the likes of pirates
in my coat pocket
the photograph of a man
on his coast guard horse
patrolling the beach along
this california shoreline
all these memories
carried out to sea as I
lean into salt wind
the brevity of my youth
on father's musty ashes
(for my dad, Andrew B)