Spindrift

By Lee Ribich

Spindrift

Lean overboard; study the water.
Watch the tide within the tide.

Circles spin in the current, strong
enough to double back against the flow.

Small whirlpools course laterally,
Not down. Drifting forward with the tide,
Then back.

Each spin gathers more drift:
Stick of wood,
Leg of crab,
Tuft of grass,
Feather of gull,

Passersby with no ill intent
The tidejust collecting passengers
Perhaps us

on a joy ride to the ebb.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543433852

Lee Ribich

Eli (Lee) Ribich was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1941. He graduated from Hamtramck High School in 1958, then from Wayne State University in 1968 with a Bachelor’s and later with a Master’s Degree in Secondary Education. Throughout his formative years Lee felt a yearning for those things that a big city, midwestern life style didn’t offer: Mountains, seashore, forests-- the stuff of poetry. The city did offer to Lee one of his inspirations, however: his wife, Gail. Together, Lee and Gail found Alaska where those early yearnings were realized and exceeded. The two taught in three Yupik Eskimo communities for five enriching years, then moved to Southeast Alaska to the fishing community of Petersburg. Lee taught English and Social Studies courses at Petersburg High School, sixth grade Physical Education, and coached junior varsity boys and girls varsity basketball. After retirement, Lee taught adult creative writing courses through University of Alaska, Southeast Extension Services. These small community experiences provided depth and richness to their lives, including two children and three grandchildren. Teaching, coaching, parenting, fishing, guiding, observing, loving all done in one of the world’s more magnificent settings, Alaska--inspiration abounds.

Book preview