The incomparable Reno Abellira
The incomparable Reno
Abellira
Allston James
ShouldersWell you had to be there
But I’m glad you weren’t
You know that deal about
Always playing a game
With someone who’s better
Than you well the fine-print reads
Not too much better
Laniakea late November
On a straight north
In the other century
A friend of a friend of Reno’s
Said come on—think the man
Looks fast from the Kam wait
Till you see him from the shoulderThe shoulder
That’s where I should
Have left it but how many times in
My life would I have a shot at Reno witnessing
Me screaming right after a late feathering drop--
From eight feet in the sky the reef looked black
Nearly maroon and for my trouble the view
Cost me a fifty yard wet lung bottom drag
Depositing almost as an afterthought
A tooth-size chunk of reef in my shoulder
Reno paddled by me headed due north
“Tail’s wrong too wide,” he offered
Diplomatically yeah
That was it.
Bio:
Allston James was senior contributing editor at Surfer Magazine for six years. One of his surf stories was recently included in the recent surfing lit anthology, Zero Break. He's the author of a novel, Attic Light, and recently wrote a play, The Pink Brothers, which premiered in Carmel this fall.
