Sea Shells

March 2026

Longboat Key, Sarasota

Mostly six syllable haiku.

A morning walk along the beach on Longboat Key in Sarasota, Florida, a gentle breeze, what it means to be all alone in a city 56,000 people.

Through the portal,

On the Beach

— Nevil Shute

Alice’s Looking Glass

“If I had a world

of my own,

everything

would be nonsense.

Nothing would be

what it is,

because everything

would be what it isn’t.

And contrary wise,

what is,

it wouldn’t be.

And what it wouldn’t be,

it would.

You see?”

Pretty shells.

The shore.

For free

.

If the ocean and the shore had a political theory, would it be Dao Dejing?

More political theory:

Gather, collect, conform.

We are prisoners, confined to the structures we create. Michel Foucault

Broken shelves,

Broken hearts,

Broken dreams.

.

What is a rebel, but a man who says no-Albert Camu. We shall return to this thought

All politics is local, says tip O’Neill. Federalism takes into account, the large in the small, the rural in the urban. This helps to avoid the tyranny of the majority.

The waves,

The foam,

Repeat.

.

In terms of texture, clam shells come in three varieties: spiky, ribbed, and smooth The color is very from white to black my favorite is the silvery iridescent shell that looks like pearl. Because these are so fragile, they are all almost always broken. Does part of their beauty lie in the fact that they uncommon? 

The birds,

Flapping,

Their wings

.

Seagulls,

Sandpiper,

And fools

.

How to describe a sand pepper:

Long beaks,

Long legs,

Small heads

.

Blue ocean,

so vast,

No wind

.

 me,

On the beach,

Alone 

Back through the portal.

“What is a rebel? A man who says no.” Camus

Or a man on the beach with no shoes 

To Philosophize

A week at the beach during Spring Break, near Sarasota, Florida, my God, the cars, the crowds, no peace.

“To philosophize is

To learn

To die.”

Michel Montaigne, French

.

Haiku —

To see the world

In lines of three.

The sun, the sand,

The wind, the waves

I finally reached the beach.

.

On Casey Key,

Poor Pyrrho of Ellis

Couldn’t afford to stay

— Basho no yona

Casey Key

Previously, two plus millennia ago, back in the Peloponnesus…

Pyrrho of Elis (4th c. BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher who disdained wealth and luxury and preached the philosophy of ataraxia, by suspending judgment about beliefs.

In France and Japan one philosophizes, one waxes poetic.

Michel de Montaigne (1533 – 1592) gave us the essay. Basho gave us the haiku. The beaches along the Florida Keys near Sarasota are a place to rest amid the restless waves.

Zion

Holy Cow

A heavenly site

— Zion

Southern Utah has five National Parks and Zion ranks as the best. Towering cliffs of red and white Navaho Sandstone, box canyons the are a hikers delight, winding roads with scenic views draw travelers from around the world.

Ironic that Las Vegas is nearby. Sin City and the Holy Place.

Too Pretty

Last day on Grand Cayman. Nothing but blue skies and willowy clouds. West Bay in the distance reaching out into the Caribbean, cruise ships arriving in George Town, small boats going to and fro, and I am smack dab in the middle of Seven Mile Beach listening to the waves washing ashore.

Lovely to visit

The sea and sand, the wind in the trees

George Town, Grand Cayman

Too pretty for words

Simply see and give plenty of thanks

— Laozi shows the Way