Kealakekua Bay
                           -Karen Ruthberg

Put in -- odd term for setting sail
or paddling furiously away from a cement wall
that wants to break you.

Put up with -- pesky currents,
other vessels in my way;
the breeze causing ripples and swells.

Then I place my face in water
deep enough to sink a skyscraper
And I see dancing coral,
colored rose and soft sage
and dusty black and tawny beige

And I see fluorescent yellows
and purples and clear blues and stripes
and spikes and dots and hanger-ons
And I kick out to the edge of the drop-off
that looks like a hole in the sky

And I take a deep tubefull of air,
Exhaling yoga-like,
arms and legs splayed over the ebb and flow
Trusting I will return.

Our thanks to Karen Ruthberg for her poetry.
And to Tara R & Kona-don and Ron T., who provided the photography.