Poetry Friday
Walking along the surf is one of my greatest delights. The horizon challenges me to look to the future, to keep dreaming. The steady rhythm of the breakers and the tides speaks to me to keep on, to never give up. The carefree winging of the sea gulls encourages me to let go, that some things don’t matter.
I never tire of the sea.
I always find comfort beside it.
I’m always renewed in its salty air.
The following are two shape poems I drafted this week after a couple days at the coast (see photo gallery below).
THE SEA
The peace,
© 2019, Alice Nine (draft)
The infinite beauty,
The sand beneath bare feet,
The steady roar of endless breakers,
The call of sea gulls swooping overhead,
The coolness of ocean breezes against my face,
The warmth of an afternoon sun from a blue sky,
The distant horizon that’s without end, that draws my
Thoughts to distant places, to dream once more like a child —
It takes my breath!
BREAKERS
A great swell grows, rising, towering, it curves
forming a grand arch, cresting, white with foam,
curling
over
itself
breaking,crashing,
it roars,
a surging swash sweeping up the beach with matted seaweed and broken shells.A moment passes as it swirls. Then suddenly
it recedes, tumbling broken shells,
tugging as it ebbs,
flowing
back
intothe
sea
© 2019, Alice Nine (draft)
to build again… and again.
________________________
The Sea Calls Me…
There are times when I must go to the sea.
This past week was one of those times. So before the rates double or triple for the summer, we packed up and headed to the coast to stay a couple nights at one of our favorite places on The Promenade at Seaside, right at the edge of the sand.
Destination: Inn of Four Winds
Along the Drive to the Coast
Mt. Hood is on the horizon
spanning the Columbia River. Mt. St. Helens is on the horizon
It was once a perfect cone, but its eruptions in 1980 left it “flat.”
Astoria, OR
Photo taken as we crossed Youngs River Bay where it meets the Columbia River.
At the Coast
-taken from our surf-side balcony on the first night.
I let Carl get ahead of me so I could get a snapshot of him walking.
a hearty breakfast at Pig’N Pancake:
eggs, sausage/bacon, biscuits & gravy
coffee with cream
back to the Inn after breakfast, this gull posed for me–
holding pieces of straw in his beak
Along the Drive Back Home
Nehalem River / Bay is the body of water in the distance.
______
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Poetry Friday Schedule
Jan – June 2019
I’m so glad you visited today,
and I do enjoy hearing from you!
Your reply will become visible as soon as I read it.
Thanks for this virtual trip, and your shape poems Alice– felt the movement moving through your “Breakers” poem.
I’m notI am not an ocean girl, but I am a “big empty places with the horizon all around me” girl. I love the growing immensity in the shape of your first poem.
Oh Alice, this wonderful poetry-travel journal is the perfect keepsake to return to again and again. What a blissful time it sounds like you had!
Thanks for taking us on your trip with you! Looks like a beautiful and inspiring place to visit.
This looks like a beautiful trip. Thanks so much for sharing the photos! Your “Breakers” poem spoke to me, with its tidal pull of long and short lines.
Your poems are beautiful, as well as your photos. I’ve not been to the west coast beaches, but grew up going to Topsail Island on the North Carolina coast every summer. Now that I’ve settled in the Midwest, I miss trips to the beach.
How absolutely perfect to write about the sea using shape poems. I could really feel the rise and fall of the waves while reading them. I’m glad you had a chance to go when your soul was telling you it was time.
I adore your shape poems. I’m heading off to a cabin on the ocean next weekend and your post today lets me know that it is absolutely time. Thanks for sharing them.
Gorgeous poems and photos. They make me long to be there again. When we lived in Portland my husband worked at the public library, which had a cottage on the coast that employees could rent for a wonderfully affordable price. We spent many happy times there, even taking our church youth group and a group of visiting international students on retreats. There is no place like the beautiful Oregon coast.
Oh wow, I do love your poems and those pictures, too, Alice. We are headed to our favorite beach house in a month. Now you make me want to go now! Love the shape you made in the Breakers poem, in and out, exactly right!
Alice, your poems and pictures make me want to pack up right now and head to the sea. If only… Thank you for sharing these. Lovely!
Alice, your poems are gorgeous, and it’s obvious by your photos that you were surrounded by plenty beauty to inspire them.