Turning

.

Veils of water as two breaking wavefronts meet, Cove Beach, Año Nuevo State Reserve, California. As a wave develops, it curls. Eventually, the curvature becomes too great to support the water at the top of the wave. Water pours down from the top forming a mini-waterfall, like a veil of water droplets covering the incoming wave. This breaking up of the wavefront then migrates outwards until the whole wavefront ends up in a wall of splash. This photo shows the moment when two breaking wavefronts collide, one forming from the left and going rightward; the other one forming from the right and going leftward. The detail of the wave is shown clearly, backlit by sunlight: photo by Wing-Chi Poon, 19 October 2007

chased

that last lost fraction, fragment

of the past, redacted

turning inward, spent,

splits, then

cuts away

from the action, again -- that's

where the line breaks
back

upon itself, crested