Once,
strolling a Humboldt beach,
a friend and I
spotted a surfer
bowing to the ocean.
"Maybe he's telling it
to have a nice day,"
I said,
and we laughed,
a Canadian and a Scot,
secure
in our hard-edged superiority
to fuzzy Californians.
Now,
years and loss
having revealed
the shifting sand
on which we walk,
I bow to all
that humbles me
with gratitude
for every breath.
I bow to the ocean.
I bow to the mountains.
I bow to the blossoming plum tree.
I place my hands
in gassho,
lower my head,
and bow to my dog,
to the student's poem,
to a glass of clean water.
Scottish-born Iain Macdonald, who's lived in Humboldt 20 years and teaches English at Arcata High, will launch his new poetry chapbook, Plotting the Course, with a reading at 7 p.m. this Friday, Nov. 6, at Booklegger, 402 Second Street in Eureka. He'll be joined by long-time local writer and teacher Jerry Martien.
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