This was originally written and posted in 2007.”
Indian Beach, Oregon Coast
the chest of the wave
slams the massive boulder
the great stone rocks back
undetectably
with a deep thud
more felt than heard
it bumps solid
against the face of the cliff
to which it crowds
as the spent wave recedes
the hulking mass settles again
immovable as bedrock
defying the next swell
and the next
and the next
but the sea is patient
this steadfast giant
in the ebb and flow of time
will acquiesce
becoming the grains of sand
upon which it now rests
Indian Beach sunset, Oregon Coast
rob kistner © 2007
The two photos immediately above I captured years ago in the month of September. The top photo is the Heceta Head lighthouse on the Oregon Coast. I loved the powerful visual impact created by the tiny lighthouse, beside the vast Pacific Ocean. The bottom photo is of sunset at Indian Beach, also on the Oregon Coast. I digitally rendered both originals into giclée on dappled canvass. “Lighthouse” measures 36″W x 46″H and “September Sunset” measures 60″W x 24″H.
NOTE: below are two tighter shots of the Heceta Head lighthouse pictured in the giclée above to give you a better sense of scale. The people pictured in the photo at the very bottom below enhance perspective of scale even further.
Hi Rob, I just began exploring your site, and your writing and art absolutely take my breath away. You have an incredible way of zeroing in on the feelings, sensations, and images in such a striking way. Thank you for sharing your deeply heartfelt gifts with us all.
Clare – you are most gracious, thank you!
I have always had a very direct, raw, and unfiltered connection to my feelings — and I have a vivid imagination, with 60 full years of free-living experience to stoke it. I love to write and create, so I simply allow my access to my inner self to flow unfiltered into my work.
I am very pleased you enjoy my efforts, and humbled by your compliments.
–and so it goes–
…Rob
Oh, just lovely, Rob! What a tremendous thing nature is, and specifically the ocean, that can turn a huge boulder into mere grains of sand… your pictures and poem relate this so well and so beautifully!
You are most kind Regina.
Yes, I am taken by the incredible, relentless, and awesomely beautiful nature of the ocean. A power so tangible that every walk along the Pacific, whether it be in the sunny breezes of summer, or the mighty storms of winter — fills me with wonder and energy that sustains me for days. I do love it!
The sea is very patient but she can be angry sometimes too! I enjoyed your words and your photos here.
Juliet – the sea has many personalities, that’s what makes it magical!
Glad you enjoyed my work.
Rob-
I loved this post, I have always found the Oregon Coast to be most inspiring. My husband & I lived there for 2 years and came away completely transformed..
Thanks for the kind words on my post…
Jennifer
Glad you enjoyed this post Jennifer.
The Oregon Coast absolutely does have the power to transform.
Hello Rob,
I am glad to have found your blog. This poem is beautifully and gracefully written.
Thank you very much Tori. I too am glad you found my blog. Please stop by from time to time.
I liked the poem. Great title too.
“This steadfast giant,
in the ebb and flow of time,
will acquiesce..”
Don’t we all?
Your creations are awesome!
My friend Gautami, I like when you visit — and I am pleased you enjoyed this piece.
Yes, we all must acquiesce — eventually. That is the nature of the Great Mandala.
Rob,
Your poem is so thought-provoking and wonderfully expressed. I love the idea of “the chest of the wave” in particular. I can see the powerful metaphor for life that you mentioned in your comment on my own post. So often too the pounding of the waves is felt but not heard, as you say. As someone who is only just learning to listen to my inner self, I am inspired by your vision and creative intuition. Thank you!
(p.s. the images are great too…i’d never heard of giclée before so a quick Wikipedia trip was undertaken, and now I am a little more “in the know”!)
Simply fabulous. Both the poem and the photos seem to need each other to complete the experience. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you Patois! You are very kind.
I felt the same regarding these two photo renderings as I searched through the archives of photos I’d taken at the coast over the years.
I appreciate that you noticed.
Thank you Rose!
I had this image of two massive athletes doing a thundering chest bump as is often seen these days in pro and collegiate sports.
The sense of feeling the great boulder thud against the cliff was relating actual experiences my wife and I have every time we visit Indian Beach, on the Oregon Coast. That is the bottom picture in my post.
We go sit way out on the massive rocks at the south edge of the beach, not seen in my photo rendering. It’s the perfect place to catch the sea spray when the waves pound and crash into these behemoths.
When you’re seated, you can feel the waves move the gargantuan stones ever so slightly, and you feel, not hear, but feel them bump. It’s a remarkably deep and penetrating sensation.
Now, if you encounter a circle of artists or art lovers, and you hear someone say giclée — you can make a knowledgeable remark. You might just want to insert giclée in an appropriate place in an upcoming conversation — just to impress. 🙂
We all can learn something new every day — and the truly wise among us, do. Isn’t life wonderful!
Powerful post. Thank you. I love your description of the “deepness” of the sounds of the waves–so deep as to be felt more than heard. Wonderful.
I also enjoyed your photo artworks!
Thank you Rena! I love photographing the Oregon Coast.
The ocean is such a big thing. I just love the tiny lighthouse. And the chest hitting the rocks is a neat juxtapostion to the painting- intensionally or not.
I was going for scale when I pulled back to minimize the lighthouse, as well as the sun in the bottom photo. I am pleased you appreciated that Ren — thank you!
Rob,
Patient persistance, that is the ocean. I feel a lesson to be learned here. 😉
Really good poem, and the art work is superb; something my brother would appreciate!
Thanks for stopping by to visit.
I’ll be back.
rel
Yes rel, we could all benefit from a little more patience and persistence in today’s world.
I appreciate your kind words, and I enjoyed my visit to your site. I will return.
Beautiful images to compliment the patience and power of the sea.
You are very gracious Tammy — thank you!
Beautiful poem: I like the “battle of giants” feel to it – a little like a mythological song.
Lovely pictures too: I particularly like the second one; its colours are amazing.
Thanks for visiting my little merman and fighting your way through the French.
Nathalie
Thank you Spacedlaw! It is the classic struggle between the immovable and the persistent. Persistent always wins!
If you think the colors in the photo are striking, you should have been there the evening I was doing the shoot. My wife, our friends, the cliffs behind us — the entire world visible to us was aglow in a brilliant golden warmth.
It was so amazing that evening, I sometimes found my self staring over my camera instead of through the lens. I almost missed the “flair” when the sun meets the sea line — but I caught it, thankfully.
I enjoy your site, and it was a pleasurable challenge trying to remember my limited French. It’s been 42 years since I studied it in school, and 25 years since I’ve attempted it in conversation.
In the early 80’s I imported Ligne Roset contemporary furniture out of Leon, France and B&B Italia out of Novedrate, Italy. I spoke no Italian, and only marginal French — but we all made it work. 😉
Dear Rob,
Thank you very much for guiding me to your ocean sanctuary. This is enchanting, your words brought me there. And with you, I commune with nature, bathe by the gifts of natural beauty. I am with you as I read this poem sharing your reverence to your ethereal sanctuary. What more, the wisdom in your words are enlightening and enriching.
This is a great read, Rob. Your works once again gave me inspiratios and great ideas.
I have to mention the images are equally beautiful, they compliment your words.
Note: I have not been regularly logging in my web nook because my father died last thursday morning at 2:10 AM Philippines time. I am set to come home today.
That’s the reason it’s only now that I got the chance to reply to the comments you left in my “over the horizon” entry. I am honored by your visit.
Thanks again, Rob.
I wish you well.
~ Jeques
Jaques –
So very sorry for your loss. May you find closure and peace!
The sea is such a force… how it all becomes sand in the end… in the end we are just the silt of the estuary
I love the relentless power of the ocean Björn. It is both invigorating and humbling to stand at it’s edge.
Sweet–and thus sea stacks are born and destroyed. They fascinate me; mini-versions of once connected continents, eroded and sculpted by the patient sea.
The oceans cover the majority of this spaceship earth, yet me know do little about their depths. Sadly that unplumbed mystery doesn’t seem to deter us from destroying them. We are such stupid fuckers.
The ocean is very patient. It is also brutal in its serenity and those lost in it will never be found. the last few lines are lovely and tells the story in its whole. The images are beautiful! I love the ocean and I have a feeling you are a pacific ocean guy? I love the turbulence of the Atlantic. Right now Dorian is paying us a visit and hopefully will blow away soon. I love the ocean.
Yes, we gotta respect any ocean Toni! Dorian has been a beast! My favorite coastline in the USA is the powerful Oregon cliffs that thrust themselves right up against the mighty Pacific Ocean. But any ocean coastline is beautiful.
Hey Rob, you very effectively conjure the sense of the sea and its never-ending steady but powerful rhythms here… I’ll be back for more….
Thank you Scott!
Yes, Rob, the sea is patient, perhaps too patient with human beings.
I love the phrase ‘roaring in the chest of the wave’; the sounds and action in this poem convey the size and power of the ocean.
As I commented to Glenn, as a species, humans can be remarkably stupid! Thank you Kim, I am glad this poem resonated for you. 🙂
I wrote about the water way today also. Water is patient and will have its way. Your photos are so breathtaking. That lighthouse one, wow. Would love to see both of the last two blown up like you have them.
Thank you Lisa… 🙂 For even better perspective, that little lighthouse in the photo is 56 feet tall! I sold each of the enlarged giclées some years ago. They were both wonderful.
This is utterly gorgeous writing, Rob 🙂
Thank you very much Sanaa! Wrote this one 12 years ago.
I like how the giant will become grains of sand on which is now rests.
Material things, including us, wear down over time Frank, to eventually return to the dust and sand of the earth.
I love this. The Oregon coast is truly one of the most special and spectacular events of nature. Your poem is alive and immediate with its power. Wonderful.
Thank you HH, your kind words are appreciated. 🙂
In the end, nature – the sea – will outlast last. Love the photos too.
Nature endures, yes Grace — absolutely.
This is so beautiful! Building up and wearing down… the story of nature! Love your gorgeous photos!
Thank you Dwight. Nature is a cycle of replenishment, its the great mandala, the mighty circle — adaption, then evolution.
The sea is patient … the tide of life.
Yes Paul, and the Source of all life!
The sea is patient…part of why its song is so healing. Lovely, both photos and words.
Thank you Kerfe… 🙂