Bingin Beach
1994
Eternal overhead left
Over an inches deep puddle o’er the reef.
Indian Ocean
RW next to me
A big wave coming
I
Pearl sliding down the face
into the turmoil of a close-out.
Surface
The swell thickened and monsterifized
Double over head.
I paddle for life
I make two shoulders
I almost reach the third’s lip
Then disaster
Backward o’er the falls
Sunk under a bone crusher.
Ten seconds in the washer
Twenty without feeling up
Thirty not struggling no more
I pull on my lease
Miraculously haul myself to the surface
Buried again
In the tumbler again
I’m breathing ocean.
Near death again.
Spit to the surface
Close to shore
Sand under my feet.
Collapse on dry beach
Dripping sea from my nose
Puking water from my lungs.
I turn to the waves.
RW shouts my name
Maddog
I had been dead
I ain’t no more
I’m at Bingin Beach
Always left overhead
Always
