Rain

Rills are running full of rain

Autumn storms are here again

In the forest fungi spring

Neath the leaves that winds will fling.

Stratification Lab

Dark blue brine on an a shallow slope

Ping-pong plankton afloat

Resting lightly in the water

Caged by translucent plastic

Exposed to the clear element above...

Water, fresh water, such as fills its core.

A slosh sends the layers waving

The blue curls up into fresh

Off the walls rebounding

While the shallow fresh water rolls into quiet.

Crystals of KMnO₄

Potassium permanganate

Fall in magenta streaks

Swirling right in the fresh water

Left in the salt

And darkening the interface

Where the ping-pong plankton floats.

When it settles the magenta traces chaotic patterns

As it settles, where it will.

Squeak, goes the styrofoam as it blocks off one part

Green, turns the water as the yellow is stirred in,

And then

The wall

Is taken

Away!

Mixed salt and fresh the green streaks in

Pushing up the magenta touched clear

And nosing above the darkened salt

Til the spectrum sits quietly

Magenta, green, blue,

And the purple of sediment enriched salt

Stratification that we may see

With eyes our own

Plain in the visible spectrum

As it cannot be

In the untouched reality

Of our home sea.

Sunny Beach from Shady Forest

Sunlight shimmers in the trees

Bouncing off the underside of leaves

Reflected there by gentle waves

From the sun across the bay.

A sturdy log reaches across the beach

Barnacles where the sun and sea may reach

Its roots merged with the bank

In the shelter of the forest.

The sun shines bright on beach and waves

Seagulls squabble, avian knaves

Seen beyond a leafy bower

Where the open eyes can rest.

From sylvan shadow and canopy

Cheery light on shore and sea

Lights the heart with a warm glow

Without harsh glare or heat.

Water rings in forest frame

Where fish to the sunlight came

Stripes of color ripple away

Fading on a quiet day.