Sailing to the Isle of Gometra

4 knots to 4.5.
With the fourth sail, 5.
Shearwaters almost slide
across the surface,
polishing their way through air.

Gannets climb,
gannets dive.
Sea birds seem like minor gods
summoning the gusts
to flex and ride.

And swimming by:
a water horse,
whose gentle wake’s
a giant wave
crashing through our minds.

Seth Crook taught philosophy at various universities before deciding to move to the Hebrides. His poems appear in recent editions of Envoi, Magma, Gutter, The Moth, Southlight, The Journal, Poetry Bus, Prole, New Writing Scotland, and on-line in such fine e-zines as Antiphon, Snakeskin, and Ink, Sweat and Tears.