Seaweed Footprints on Cape Cod

When the moon’s shadow covers clouds
sunset eyes swell in sheep-sheared vastness
and the black spotted pelican skims lullabies
each evening. At the pier
fishermen lure with bait, prey, and songs
as the great heron inches closer to the fish
stacked pails. Several youngsters dance
splash into a blazing sunset,
clapping to the finality of light. Burnt rays
spread pink-orange lashes. Calmness breaks.
The Shoreway Patrol spews brazen crimson-yellow
lights on beach sand.
Flickering seaweed prints flow into halos,
fishermen twirl airborne fish, shadows ripple.
A heron gulps one whole. I summersault
into waves for the longest night.

Dana’s Kitchen, Falmouth MA

Night fills dreams with new words
for aged poems like sage and thyme

from Dana’s garden. We sit among
blooming daylilies, ocean spray

roses, and rainbow hydrangeas.
Breakfast: soft-shell bedded crabs,

cranberry muffins, and java
wakening each cell of our bodies.

Thunderstorm warnings loom, winds swirl
at 20 knots. Black back seagulls drift

between scattered showers, in and out of shore
lifting prayers with the fog. Underfoot

sharp, broken clam shells guide our paths.
The Esterel yacht anchors each year

in Falmouth while the Corwith Cramer
schooner heads towards Shoals Marine

Lab on Appledore Island, with my daughters.
Marielle and Lara. Hurricane Lana looms.

Ode to the Pacific Cypress Tree

Before leaving Gualala’s Sea Ranch
I run to the cypress tree facing
our living windows for final good-bye
hugs. Together, full arms waver
in the blustery winds. Four more arms
are needed to encircle and embrace
this ancient trunk. Each morning,
a chirping flock of birds
arrives fetching tender gifts of fallen seeds.
Seaside residents with inquisitive dogs
walk along ten-mile cliffs. Invisible cats are safe.
Good-byes open gifts. My family waits
without complaints in their rental car.
Mama cypress will wait, family roots
surround her with shade. Pacific waves
rest patiently waiting for our return.

—Clarissa Jakobson is a book artist, painter, and poet whose visual and written art are inspired by her Lithuanian heritage and her family’s history during WWII. Her new book, Baltic Amber in a Chest (Bottom Dog Press, Harmony Series, 2023), received a Pushcart Nomination. The book’s cover is her own oil painting. She reflects these influences pairing her visual and lyric art. Clarissa studied Art (BFA) and Poetry at Kent State University. Her work has been exhibited at the Morgan Conservatory, the Cleveland Museum of Art and enjoyed a solo exhibition at the Moose Gallery. Clarissa won First Place in the Akron Art Institute New Words Competion and her poems are published internationally. She lives in Aurora, Ohio, and enjoys daily walks with her husband around Sunny Lake.