Seagulls and the Sea
by KM Kramer
From Costa Brava, 60 KM from Salvador Dali’s hometown: White ribbons of foam, cinched at the center, flap across the azure surface of the sea. Seagulls flock; their wings flap, sometimes in a perfect V—in white relief from the cloudless sky. The sky looks connected to the sea. At first, they seem to be mirror images: The blue sky and the blue sea, the white wings beating and the white foam flapping.
But the seagulls manage to break free from the frame of sky and sea, with wings made for resistance yet able to alight. The untrustworthy sea forces us to notice and forget, with its tide and its undertow.
A conch shell gathers these tricky rhythms into a song. Taking the conch home with me, I play it back from a different seashore. It sounds like a shofar. So I forgive myself for being beguiled, for nearly reenacting the sea’s trickery.
KM Kramer graduated from Stanford University and Stanford Law School. An experienced First Amendment attorney and thought leader in technology law, she recently began publishing her poetry.