Stroll by Rick Hartwell

Short walk on the beach

stray white tern feather

realizing that somewhere

flies an unbalanced bird

compensating the loss

a flight feather reborn.

Short walk on the beach

piece of broken glass

bright colored polished

by tumultuous breakers

sharp edges rounded

sand couching the gem.

Short walk on the beach

drying broken branches

pounded and polished

sun-bleached journeys

from distant coastlines

individualized stories.

Short walk on the beach

three treasures gathered

each with a story to tell

with enough imagination:

feather, glass, driftwood –

telling what lies out there.

Rick Hartwell is a retired middle school (remember the hormonally-challenged?) English teacher living in Moreno Valley, California. He believes in the succinct, that the small becomes large; and, like the Transcendentalists and William Blake, that the instant contains eternity. Given his “druthers,” if he’s not writing, Rick would rather be still tailing plywood in a mill in Oregon. He can be reached at rdhartwell@gmail.com.