The sea rolls and slaps beats in the sand with a salty hand singing with soul and holding eternity between sheets of its effervescent symphony.
This pier speaks.
Standing still it shifts and sways with the waves. It seldom sleeps. Some stop and stay. All night, all day. Fishing and smoking and laughing and joking and wishing and listening. Music plays from small groups gathered around poles, draped in blankets or warm clothes.
Underneath the pier, sound is drowned by the crowd gathered around the stairs. At all times it is occupied with smiling, swilly, sly, smoking, sassy, seaside sleeping, street kids doing business or just standing witness.
But this night had a slow roll.
I slipped down and stood on the concrete sea wall and watched the surfers bob and start and stall and submit and slow their roll and and I heard thunder rumble from the drum circle and the sun slid in soft slow motions.
Ocean Beach, CA
November, 2018
sonny d. 