Chesapeake Bay Poets
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A LINE IN TIME weekly online newsletter and SKIPPING STONES, annual anthology of Hampton Roads poetry illustrated by photography & art by Hampton Roads photogs & artists.
   
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Hampton Roads Writers
from SKIPPING STONES 2007
The Lingering Sounds of Skipping Stones
Allen Weber

As he sits on the hood of his rented car,
the breezes come remembered, redolent
with tanning lotions and alewife.

Boats retire from the freshwater horizon--
sway, marina bound, down Black River.
His mind follows, past the dancing

sedge and orange silhouettes--legs
scissor, emerge free of a slip-less dress.
As her toes throw the cooling sand--
skip--step--pivot--toss--

The sun loses interest in another day;
in descent, its arc briefly flames
the side-armed stone.  Flat and tumbled

smooth, it breaks the tension of the surface
again and again and again; winking,
concentric eyes fade into the swells.
As they always have, some lovers weave
between the last fishermen on the pier
while others wade ankle deep.

A younger man holds a shadow
upon his shoulders.  The joy of living:
their laughter echoes like bells.

And as they alwasy have, the gulls
mock cries of mirth or sadness
while they navigate the fading heat.
Editor's Note: This poem by Allen Weber was specially selected as frontspiece for 2007 because it so eloquently expressed our most personal relationships with the waters of Hampton Roads.  Allen told me that when he wrote this poem he was totally unaware of a poetry collection called Skipping Stones.  I call that Serendipity at work; and I thank Allen for this wonderful poem. -  pf -
Click here for more sample poems from
                                 Skipping Stones 2007