THE SEA GUEST

The sea guest
waves me down
in my orange kayak
with his lyrical harmonica
my alto sax playing riffs
sounding back to him
as a musical jazz echo
on this transient hour
of early morning
the sailor, a time traveler
at the barge docks
unloads a large salmon net
brought in baskets
setting his anchor
after flagging a Coast Guard ship
on the wind driven shore
tells me he is a poet of the tanka
named Espinoza from the Azores
emerges from his open boat
with a Lisbon rose in his lapel
introduces me to his verse
I'm refreshing his memory
as he tells me of his Atlantic trek
from his journal log and diary
when in the rambunctious wind
he survived three winter storms
by writing transparent poetry
telling me how he survived
keeping warm under an umbrella
as he grilled a red salmon
for me with a pot of green tea
under a blazing Cape Cod sun
we play backgammon.