J Hahn Doleman

Waves Like Blue Dolphins

The stretch of sea north of Ensenada darkens in the afternoon light as the couple pulls into a roadside marisqueria next to a harbor. They choose a table under a sun-bleached umbrella and the woman calls to the waiter. “Tienes ostras?” The waiter nods. “Dos platos, por favor.” She glances at the young man seated across from her. “Do you want anything to drink?” “Maybe a beer,” he replies. “También una cerveza.” The waiter nods again and disappears into the kitchen. 

“Don’t be cross with me, darling,” says the woman. “I’m not cross.” “You’re upset.” “Maybe.” “Oh, sweet boy.” She reaches across the table to touch his hand. “You could have told me first,” he says. “We could have talked about it.” 

surface tension
two seagulls jostle for space
on a bell buoy

The waiter emerges with a large tray and serves the raw oysters and cold beer. Holding one of the half shells, the woman lifts a doll-sized trident and impales the opalescent body, twists it gently, scoots it into her mouth, then drops the hollow shell into an empty bowl. “Too bad, no pearl,” she laughs. “I’ve heard they come from a single grain of sand,” the man says. “Oh, no, darling, it must be something more, like a piece of coral that irritates the flesh.”  

The man takes a sip of beer, his gaze drifting out to the harbor where sailboats rock back and forth in their slips, masts tilting like the arms of metronomes set to different rhythms. “You have all the answers.” “Oh, love, please, please, please let’s not quarrel. I did it for us. Everything is taken care of.” “I suppose it is.” “Please let’s be happy, darling. Can’t we be happy, please?” “Sure,” the man replies, still watching the harbor, then searching further out, where waves break along the stone jetty.

seaglass glint
a tangle of bladderwrack
on the rocks

“The waves look like blue dolphins,” remarks the man. “That’s clever, darling. We are free as dolphins now.” “If you say so.” “There’s nothing in our way. We can go anywhere, do anything we want.” The woman watches her companion watching the waves. “Do you want anything else?” “I don’t think so.” “I’ll go settle the bill, then.” “Sure.” They stand simultaneously; the woman walks toward the kitchen and the man walks to a railing at the edge of an embankment leading down to the shore. He scans the ocean. Something is floating in the water but he can’t tell what it is. He keeps watching until he isn’t sure anything is there except the endless expanse of sea.  

whale spouts 
a humpback cow and calf
breach in unison

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About the Author

J Hahn Doleman began writing haibun in 2018 and serves as a contest coordinator for the Haiku Poets of Northern California. Recent honors include first and second place in the Haiku Society of America’s 2022 Haibun Awards competition and Grand Prix in the 2021 Genjuan International Haibun Contest. He lives in San Francisco and works as a speech pathologist.

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