BROADSIDE CONTEST WINNER Dean Okamura

Never the same sequence

Going on a hike 
on the ocean trails 
or the winding paths 
of the preserve is 
like reading a book 
of poetry. I step 
through nature and 
some things settle 
in my eye: the small 
wildflowers after a 
Spring rain, the tree limbs 
swinging in the breeze, those 
pelicans soaring in formation 
patrolling the sea cliffs 
in unison, a spout of 
breath from a dolphin or 
a whale, the patterns 
they make on the ocean 
surface, living life 
in open waters. I stop 
to gaze at poems in 
a book, each a different 
display of life, a chance 
to experience a wonder 
of existence. Never the 
same sequence although 
it is the same trail or book. 
Do I pick them or 
Do they pick me?