Saunter by Peggy Dobreer
What if you were a teenage refugee on vacation with your parents and the lifeguard sat beside you, muscles and teeth shimmering under his fragrant choice of SPF? What if he asked you to come along, trailer the horses up to Hemet and ride with that top o’ the world slant all the way down San Jac.
What if that sensation never left your hips? The ungodly tilt of your sacrum. What if that young paint you rode still knew your name? And the exact height to which your stirrups were adjusted?
He wore a straw Stetson that he purchased on the spur of the moment. The sun will do that to a person. Out-of-town visitors will make you think you’re someone other than you are. Walking the beach while living in Hollywood, will do that to a person.
Maybe it was the smell of the sea that landed you right back at lifeguard station 24. Maybe this other man’s palm on your thigh, the century plant in bloom at the edge of the boardwalk . . . you’re not sure.
Maybe it was the double mocha Cappuccino’s on Main Street or the feel of satin between his hand and the small of your back. The lack of friction as he maneuvered you across the strand.
It wasn’t until you left the dock that you gazed into the following foam, until the churning almost knocked you off your feet, not until the slant of the dingy against the water that locked your calf muscles like a cramp in the night, you knew what the body grasped that the mind did not.
Artist’s Statement
I think of myself as someone who has practiced the arts of dance, yoga, live theatre, voice, improvisation, jewelry design, and writing. I think of myself as a poet because I write poems. I think of myself as a community builder because I curate and host live literary, educational and entertainment events. And I think of myself as someone who believes in an inexplicable creative principle based on a lifetime of observances. Have you ever seen the Lupine in full bloom on Mt. Tamalpais? And did I mention how I could have sworn the mountain itself was swaying? Tell me, what takes your breath away?
Peggy Dobreer is a three-time pushcart nominated poet and recipient of the 2017 Poetry Matters Prize awarded by Downey Symphony Orchestra in association with NASA. Dobreer has published two full length collections with Moon Tide Press, In the Lake of Your Bones 2012 and Drop & Dazzle 2018 and her most recent title Forbidden Plums is the 2021 chapbook selection from Glass Lyre Press, Chicago.
A parent, mentor, long-time student of mystical traditions and former dancer, Peggy curates Slow Lightning, a daily somatic meditation and writing practice. She offers E=Mc2bodied Poetry Workshops, Slumber Write Marathon Writing Events, and mentors writers online. View her reading and conversation with Janet Fitch here.