Chica del Alba

Chica del Alba - 'poetry on the coast of love' - is a bracing collection of 114 Chay Tana poems from 1969 to 2014. Here's one salty and one summery sample which also appears on the back cover of the paperback:

'Song of the Salt Air Gone Dead Love'

Seagulls

Smoothly wheeling overhead

Call me to the air and

Sea.

A salty breeze

Pushes me steadily

To where the weed

And crabs stay

And here

I fall heavily on my knees

Shaking my fists

At the whispering roll

Of powder feather waves

Breaking

I break too

And the sea

The sky

The rushing clouds

Are all too much

And I cry ...

... And the wind, salty and distant

Cries your name back.

'Elle (Summer Is Forever)'

A dream of nights

Midnight flowers

And you

Sapphire heart

Warm brown love

In flowers

By night.

You are my cool blue

Sunshade

My light lilac misty sea

And sky

By day

You're my summer beauty

And Elle ...

... You are forever.

(c) 2014 Chay Tana