Low Tide at Solana Beach, California
Pacific waves roll in
swirling sand into brown blooms
tipped with thunder
a shoreline of swells
below sandstone cliffs
slashed into ruts by random rains
pelicans carried on invisible currents
wings splayed like fighter planes
missiles headed east
green flash at sunset
fire scorches sea and sky
Venus stabs the night
what does kim yung un see from
his vantage point
within palace walls
In her professional life, Phyllis Hillinger worked as an educational writer and editor for a variety of not-for-profit organizations in the Albany area, many of them health related. She also enjoyed a long volunteer career with the Bethlehem Central School District. Her poems and memoir pieces have been published in anthologies and heard on NPR stations. Phyllis is a member of the Evergreen Poets Workshop, and the Hudson Valley Writers Guild. When she is not visiting her two sons and two daughters and their families in far-flung places, Phyllis and her husband Stephen can be found sailing on Lake George, wind permitting.
This poem was an Honorable Mention in the 2022 HVWG Poetry Contest.
