About OCEAN
OCEAN Writing Contest
OCEAN Photography Contest
Contributors Guidelines
Advertisers & Retailers
OCEAN Associates
Today
|
| | |
|
Winter 2012 Writing Contest Winner:
PRECEDED by Cameron M. Smith
I lie in a bamboo cabin on the Pacific equator, by the crash-upon-crash-upon-crash of breakers.
I cannot see the swells approaching shore, but I sense their even rise — which have so often
elevated and then lowered me. I sense their rise higher at the precisely appointed line and then
they topple forward and come down with unbelievable sounds: the crashing of great swords, the
faintest echo of colliding galaxies, the hiss of hurrying electrons, the sound of acres of metal sliding.
Some waves pound the sand like cannonballs, but these are just sideshows. The essence out there
is in the rush, the slide, the white noise of eternity, the sand grinding of the ocean ashore. There is
no code there, it seems, only particles in motion, but I fall into the sense that I know nothing at all.
The moment passes: not true. I know something now, I know that these crashes and hisses are
important. They preceded all humanity and they will succeed all humanity. I may never understand
them, I think, but if I don’t listen for messages in there I am a fool.
The next day, five fathoms under the gray surface of the Pacific, as I glance at my air pressure gauge,
I am halted by another sound. A low whistle that has twisted through miles of water, a low whistle
blending into a short, uprising moan. Whale. I breathe the word through my mouthpiece and it roils up
and away in silver bubbles. I deflate my vest to kneel on the sandy sea floor and I listen.
Another low whistle, whorled by current and salt and thermocline, but unmistakable. It trips my mind
like a switch, putting me right back in the cabin. Whales, I think, their sound preceded all humanity
and will succeed all humanity and though it’s time to turn around and swim back in, I had better
commit their sounds to memory.
But back in the cabin I cannot reproduce the sounds in my mind. They have already been smashed
away by fish trucks, barking dogs, and the rumblings of the cat food factory on the beach. It’s okay,
I think, I heard it. I don’t have to hear that twice.
Congratulations Cameron M. Smith!
ENTER YOUR WRITING
STORIES ESSAYS POEMS ARTICLES about the ocean, related to the ocean.
The WINNER will be PUBLISHED in OCEAN Magazine Summer 2012 and here –– check back!
Write from the heart. Write from the soul. Write deeply with candor and strength. Use your words well.
Deadline: April 1, 2012
YOUR SUBMISSION:
Immediately following your WRITING SUBMISSION, you will be prompted to pay your $5.00 SUBMISSION FEE.
Your writing will not be read until this fee is submitted.
* denotes required field
SUBMIT YOUR WRITING HERE:*
99999 characters remaining
| |
| | |
|
|
|