It was a place of serenity

curling blue

and murky deep water

The wind whipped sandy hair across their faces,

shivering bones that seemed to creak

Slippery feet

but they gripped the board tightly

Shallow gasping breaths sucked deep in their lungs

and the sound of the sky rats screaming

Gritty sand crunched on the concrete

that the water couldn’t wash away

Tumbled in a machine of foam

and washed like laundry

Smiles that spread widely

Wetsuits that peeled slowly

And back to waist deep

the frigid water rose again

Not so serene

roaring green and not very shallow