waves

by peterbowes on May 24, 2011

A wave is the measure of some windy pulse

an oceanic punch

the thriftless child of some distant tempest

wandering to the shore

lost to violence.

11 Comments Post a comment

Jo Bryant #

Sorry Pete – surfers ARE poetry !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

May 25, 2011

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- peterbowes #
  
  Not the current generation Jo, most of them have come and gone in 10 years – then they move into marketing and IT solutions or squats in Fortitude Valley – One of the telling signs of our times is the number of boards in pawn broker shops –
  
  Nobody I knew ever did that….
  
  May 25, 2011
  
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  - Jo Bryant #
    
    Now you’ve made me sad – watching the surfers both in and out of the water was a literary journey for me. The approach – the joining – the leavetaking – all minute yet strong stories. 😦
    
    May 25, 2011
    
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  - Jo Bryant #
    
    BTW – my FAVOURITE movie was ‘Morning of the Earth’ I could watch it over and over – and the soundtrack – I wore the tape (yes we had tapes in those olden days) out, a couple of times.
    🙂
    
    May 25, 2011
    
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Blasphemy Rottmouth #

I grew up a clicks South of Cannon Beach. This pic is a familiar site. On good days.

One of the many reasons why I never made the tour.

Right up there next to “looking like an electrocuted starfish” when I surf.

May 26, 2011

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Rebecca #

“Not the current generation Jo, most of them have come and gone in 10 years – then they move into marketing and IT solutions or squats in Fortitude Valley – One of the telling signs of our times is the number of boards in pawn broker shops –

Nobody I knew ever did that….”

That’s not very fair, pete. There were MANY people who came and went from surfing in your days too. Perhaps they were not friends of yours, but surfing was a fad then too. My dad did it and loved it and still talks about his surfing youth in Byron, but he didn’t stay with it – I’ll ask him about that. For him though, surfing was about his youth, just as it is for some people today. For such folk surfing might be something that passes through their lives, or perhaps something that they don’t ever really connect to the way that other people – like you – do. But saying that it is endemic to younger people today is unfair. Disrespectful even! You were young and misunderstood once too, remember…

May 26, 2011

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- peterbowes #
  
  Hey ‘bec, waking you up is always an art – though let me start with your assertion that surfing was a fad in those far off early days when boys left home and headed north and south and found towns that had headlands and points unridden and unappraised – lonely days in back seas.
  
  We never knew that word. Fad. We knew fear better.
  
  Surfing never passed through our lives , it stayed and built bones – it was never a transient sport, there was never anything after surfing – the Gift.
  
  I have seen youngsters out there today fully masterful – and in a couple of years they have gone onto something else – that is not being disrespectful of them ‘bec, they have decided to forgo their talents and try something else –
  
  Surfing isn’t about youth at all – We love the sea though it would love to drown us. What a strange relationship.
  
  – we love the weather the coast breeds and we learn so early to read weather maps and clouds and these are the studies and ways that separate us from tennis players and golfers.
  
  – and I was never really misunderstood ‘ bec I found my tribe early, and up here – and they found me.
  
  May 26, 2011
  
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  - Rebecca #
    
    Yeah, but these stories will be told in the same way by many young people today – I already hear as crew wonder about those who move along to other things. I just object to the wholesale connection to young people.
    
    P.S. & FYI: I’m always, always awake…
    
    May 27, 2011
    
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Bruce Usher Photography #

Most do some don’t. Carroll on SUP is …. i even like to think i am or do. Dooley still is, Lil Dooly, juries out.
Lorraway & Paul Morris most definitely.

May 31, 2011

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Mick #

I think we all have our poetic moments on waves… Even me unless I stick my bum out…
And I do think there is a surfing gene that sits aside from talent. It is the switch that a lifetime will not turn off.

June 2, 2011

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Surf4ever #

Hello, Pete!
Thank’s for dropping by at my “brasilian warning”, “Surf para sempre”!
I’ve been getting a few good waves, but not as often as I wish. Hope you’re scoring good waves down under!
Lot of work and (unfortunately) not a lot of surf. Even time for the blog is scarce.
Also I wish I could come here at your blog more often, too.
But at least there’s a surf trip (Peru) on the plans for next semester.

About that post I’m commenting in, I desagree with you that we surfers don’t do poetry. I would refrase it to: “surfers don’t DO poetry ON PURPOSE !” I reckon when the feeling is real, it just comes up, spontaneously, the “poetry” flows. Maybe in words (spoken or written), videos, blog posts, whatever… it just happens. Maybe we surfers don’t like to call “poems” the things we write about surfing and the feelings related to it. By the way, your creation up there, I mean, the words that you’ve put up together titled “Waves” are magnific…

Anyway, to end my comment I’d like to suggest a video I really enjoy. It has a lot to do with the opinion I’ve expressed. It’s from Cantabria, in Spain, but is in french. It’s called “Dix Jours” (Ten Days). Even though is in french, with spanish subtitles, I’m sure that, understanding what is being said or not, that may be classified as “Poetry” by many people. But not by us, surfers, ok? For us and the guys that have made the video, that is just pure SURF FEELING, not f… “poetry” indeed! Check it out:

http://surf4ever.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/%C2%BB-o-inverno%E2%80%A6/

Cheers, amigo,

Gus

June 3, 2011

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