DEAR CORINNE

the sky and the grey cloth became barred with thick strokes moving, one after another, beneath the surface, following

each other, pursuing each other, perpetually

-Virginia Woolf, The Waves

You told me to wear white to go write by the water

the rocks are porous estic vestida de dol

I’m wearing all black les roques tenen porus 

the crash against stone un fotògraf 

a photographer el xoc contra pedra

I imagined the kind of creature that could be fixed in place long enough to engrave such a

deep impression

I was meant to meet someone here by the water

un fotògraf

the gradual summer a distortion of time a flattening wash

un temps en distorsió una onada d’inseguretat l’estiu sense pressa

I’m two hours late and he is gone

I retreat far into my body here by the water

*

This morning in the newspaper, there were men trying to save children from a cave in

Thailand

a mission una cova

a cavern un encàrrec

a salvage un rescat

There’s a crab mincing into the waves, finding footholds in the pores

Mai perd l’equilibri

The shifting mass darkens and lightens

breathes against the white of my page 

blinding as I return to it

el xoc contra pedra

estic vestida de dol

The photographer could eternalize the beauty of this light in an image, as I am incapable of doing with my words

*

My body suns, my hair waves l’escuma de les onades 

the crash against stone el xoc contra pedra

the rocks are porous el cabell cargolat

I was ready to drink a beer mixed with lemonade. I was ready to take photographs.

*

The light starting to fade leaves behind illuminated patches 

the rest of the beach looks upon them with envy 

El que és preciós només existeix quan s’observa des de fora

Like watching your sister in the kitchen, or a lover deeply consumed in a task, or the way the

light drips on the rocks and makes the pores appear even deeper and darker