My mother believed in the power of wind - Janis La Couvée

My mother believed in the power of wind, waves and salt spray to heal

At the slightest sign of a lingering cough or sniffles

we were off

bundled in layers of wool and rubber

feet encased in black gumboots

following overgrown trails to the beach

slipping and sliding, grabbing branches to stop falls

bum-scooting down cliffs 

The best days were after a ferocious storm, 

rain gone, but gale-storm gusts remaining

Shrieking like banshees we’d run 

full-tilt at the breakers unfurling on the shore,

teasing and taunting King Neptune, until inevitable, 

water would slop in—

chagrined and sodden, we’d retreat

hurl ourselves down the beach, becoming human kites

the smallest bowled over by powerful blasts

Exhilaration and dread coursed, 

in equal measure, through our veins

Danger lurked in forces uncontrollable,

rogue logs tumbling and crashing in the surf

sleeper waves that could easily envelop

Battling to stand upright, snot streaming

our faces radiant with wide grins

We exalted 

warriors of time and tide

Originally published by the Van Isle Poetry Collective, March 2022

Janis La Couvée (she/her) is a writer and poet with a love of wild green spaces, dedicated to conservation efforts in Campbell River, British Columbia—home since time immemorial to the Liǧʷiɫdax̌ʷ people. Words in Pure Slush, Counterflow 3 (Wordstorm Society of the Arts), Jake the Anti-Literary Magazine, Splendor of Wings (League of Canadian Poets chapbook), Litmora Literary Magazine, among others. Online at janislacouvee.com; @lacouvee on X, Mastodon and Bluesky, @janislacouveeonline on Instagram and Facebook