Centre, As If

Tempestuous is today’s word
 – a north-easterly pummelling
the dark green of the ocean, forcing
the palm fronds to lean inland.

Reckless, wild, turbulent: Word
offers me its synonyms, the opposite
to what I feel standing on the shoreline,
feeling the lick of salt on my arms

and face, the tiniest grains of sand,
as if I could be the eye of the storm,
as if I could be a pocket of calm
at the centre of all conflict. As if.