The first known account of surfing was written during the 1640s
in what is now Ghana. Surfing was independently developed from
Senegal to Angola. Africa possesses thousands of miles of warm,
surf-filled waters and populations of strong swimmers and sea-going
fishermen and merchants who knew surf patterns and crewed surf-canoes
capable of catching and riding waves upwards of 10 feet high.
—Kevin Dawson
Kahalu’u Bay, Hawaii
1. Our ways with water are ancient & invincible:
In the 17th century, kids on the Gold Coast
ride longboards that are twelve feet long, scaling the crests
of waves, aimed at oceanic zones unreachable
otherwise, outside such strange & elegant mastery,
this lilt & lean & lightest touch. “Counting the seas,
”they would call it, this blue vision, this sense of when to
paddle in, forge ahead or exit, to commune with gods
who cultivated kingdoms there, in the dark frenzied motion
just offshore, where our eyes meet the edge of the eternal.
2.The perpetual fear is contamination: swimming pools, drinking
fountains, the touch of a hand that is mostly water. The brain too:
Lightning and rain. Surf-canoes were made from cottonwood trees
said to be sacred, to hold the souls of children who had not yet
arrived. Ancestors walked through the world below. The board
was a bridge. Language is only one way we walk across.
3.The city in the sky Daniella paints
has a dance studio, plant nursery, bodega,
used bookseller, two children floating
as they play Go Fish, a mom-and-pop outfit
called Surf Shack, where you buy boards
that sail through the air like seraphim.
The streets are named for birds
of prey. The water levitates like everything
else, and there is no word in the common
tongue for falling.
by Joshua Bennett
from We the People of the United States
September 17, 2026
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