mid-April and a northwest wind
blows sunshine down Puget Sound
all the way from the Olympics’
jagged ramparts—the whole range
of thrusted peaks white-capped with new snow—
down to sloping hills that taper to blue sky
I know what beauty lies beyond them:
rain forest moss, wide beaches tumbled with drift,
the forever ocean carving out tidepools—
but this bold palisade is what I love:
bright bulwark in midday light,
soundless dark ridge in blue-grey dusk,
last edge of the visible world.
(Looking at the Olympic peaks in Olympic National Park from Seattle)
Alicia Hokanson lives in Seattle and also spends time on Waldron Island, in the Salish Sea. Her newest collection of poems, Perishable World, was published by Pleasure Boat Studio in the summer of 2021, and awarded the Eyelands Book Awards grand prize for poetry in December 2021.
Featured image courtesy the poet.
