Anatomy of a Wave: A Triptych

"We like to imagine --in our humanness-- waves as traveling water bodies. But that isn't quite accurate. Waves are kinetic energy from vibrating water particles interacting through seawater. The particles move perpendicularly back and forth to create energy, the water forms a circular motion in relation to the seafloor and wind, an orbital rotation is born. 

The water itself doesn't travel very far at all. The wave is not a body of water. Waves bear energy, not water, across the sea. When we look out at waves coming toward us on the shore, we imagine they are coming to us. We long for it, I think. Sometimes I wonder if our longing is memory. A desire to return to that breathable aquamarine past." 

More in this evocative essay from Orion Magazine.

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