A surf inspired poem by musician and surfer Aron Van Alstine.

You Can’t Bottle This Water

you can’t bottle this water.

you can boil it, filter it, and desalinate it;
you can treat it and process it,
but you can’t bottle it.
you can add electrolytes and vitamins
antioxidants and mood enhances.
you can even mix it with Viagra,
but you can’t bottle it.
you can have it blessed by the pope,
the Dalai lama, and all the gurus in California,
but you can’t bottle it.
this water is too fast.

it comes in enormous quantities,

it roars, and then it disappears.

there is no container for the shifting shape.
no material to capture the instant
when the graceful slope rears up
and sends rainbows cascading over the punishing wall.
you can’t bottle this water
so you might as well ride it,
and (if you’re lucky)
it might bottle you
and unbottle you.
~AVA, Baja 2012

Shaper | Lover of the Sea

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