California Coastal Commission

 “Sharks in Half Moon Bay”
Deanna Chung, 9th grade, Los Altos Hills

"Ocean"

This vast expanse
Of nothing and everything
A wide, mysterious world
Under the multi-faceted truth
The surface

The water has no history
A timeless being
Cloaking the world under
Beauty embodied

The ruthless master time
Does not drag his harsh
claws
Over the face of the
Ocean, defacing it
For it cannot
the ocean seamlessly
Slips through the grasping
fingers of time
Oh! To be the Ocean!

The ocean never tries
It may seem
To pull you closer
To want to take something
away from you It does not try
It never wanted to
make you long for something
you can't remember
The part of you
your mind simply cannot reach
It never wanted suffering

The Ocean is
ancient
yet
newborn,
guilty yet
innocent,
playful yet
powerful,
beautiful
yet
dangerous

The Ocean
Obeys no one
The sailor who
Begins to think
Of control
Lost in one tiny
Flicker
An instant of effort
In an undulating effortless
Gem that hides
Marvelous, wondrous secrets
a crab
a garibaldi
a mermaid
a tragedy
Life that continues
On through the
Ethereal
Terrible
Ocean beauty

Dory Graham, 8th grade, Pacific Palisades

“False Advertisement”
Lidiya Illyashova, 8th grade, Fremont

"Shell Sanctuary"

We need to find a place where we are safe,
a secret garden,
a haven in the midst of the earth.
a place where no worries dare lurk.
for me, such a shelter is the beach.
the ocean's stable flow,
its fearsome crashing,
and its inhabitants, slight, little inhabitants,
grasping onto the sand that pulls them to the shore.
Seashells.
their simple complexion of whirling, winding lines creating their spoken words,
for shells do speak;
if you listen closely, you will hear them murmur their solemn, soprano tunes.
When I feel their presence, delicate and soggy in my hands,
I feel solitary, yet not alone.
I don't feel protected,
but with my little collection, I feel safe.

Éléonore Dambre, 7th grade, Encinitas

“Heron at Monterey Bay with Sealife”
Rebecca Rubin, 9th grade, Davis

"Salty Mist"

With my feet planted firmly
On the dry, slivery dock
I look out across the vast, turquoise ocean
The sound of waves crashing
On the shifting pebbles
Is intriguing me
Into the ocean's cooling arms
The warm wind sifting through my weightless hair
Salty mist drifting onto my legs
Sending a delightful chill throughout my whole body
Finally, my knees start to bend
My arms swing above my head
I leap into the air
Everything went into slow motion
I felt like I was flying
My fingertips slip into the water
Followed by the rest of my body
The thick water surrounding me
As I descend into the slippery seaweed
Tickling me all over
Little bubbles following my toes
I point my body towards the surface
I swim up to it
I bob on top of the water like a boat
Gazing up at the sky
It's perfect
I'll stay here forever.

Kayla Jones, 8th grade, Point Arena

“Bottlenose Dolphin”
Carolyn Sy, 9th grade, Foster City

"Eyes of the Sea"

No one knew the age of the man
Who walked all day on the sunlit sands
His sea-green eyes pierced the souls of all
Who passed him by, to make their spirits fall
His wizened hands were white as chalk and
When the sea washed o'er the path of his walk
It dissolved the evidence to leave no trace
The sea-waves battered a consistent race
For only they knew how old was the man
Who walked all day on the sunlit sands.

Great was the age of the old, old man
Who stood alone on the moonlit sands
The darkened waves, plush't white with foam
Never seemed to hold their own
But, pushed and pulled in the tide of the moon,
lep't and danced to the sea-gull's tune
And here and there a silvery flash
revealed a school of blue Kelp Bass
For they also knew how old was the man
Who stood alone on the moonlit sands.

The morning dew had aged with the man
Who walked alway on the dappled sands
Waking seagulls grey and white
Shook their feather'd wings to flight
The stone-faced man reached out his hand
A seagull stretched its wings to land
And stared unblinking at old man wise
With round and black and sparkling eyes
Kenn'd he of a gull who knew the man
When he flew beside him on the dappled sands.

Well his ancestor had known the man
When they moved together o'er the pearly sands
Together, together, when the man was a boy
Both of their hearts would leap for joy
At the smell of fish, the slap of the waves,
The song of the birds, and the sight they most craved:
A wood-plank't vessel, with men who'd hail
To the boy to come for adventure to sail! Ah,
Well the whales and the fish knew the lad
Who for the clear sea left all he had had.

But now no one knows the age of the man
Who walks all day on the sunlit sands
Those he knew, those friends of old
have passed away, their tales untold
None are left of the 'venturous band
Who sought for gold in foreign lands
Who risked their lives for the blue's frenzy
Except the old man and the bounding sea;
Now only they know how very old is he
Who walks all day on the cinders by the Sea.

Karis Tanksley, 9th grade, Oceanside