Whenever I think about summer,

I seem to think about water: waves in North Carolina, the bright blue green of the river, 

a morning spent in a canoe on the Columbia slough, the uneven shimmer of moon on the sea. 

The slur and rush of water, the humidity in the air back east, the first smell of the sea 

when I open the car door and push out into the wind, the perfection of finding 

a break in the riverbank--a place to finally step into the water.