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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,
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!

© 2019, Alice Nine (draft)


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
into

the

sea
to build again… and again.

© 2019, Alice Nine (draft)

________________________

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

Inn of the Four Winds
Charming at night
Our oceanview room with private balcony and gas fireplace
Our view to the south from our balcony.

Along the Drive to the Coast

On the Glenn L Jackson Memorial Bridge crossing the Columbia River
Mt. Hood is on the horizon
Looking across to Longview, WA. with the Lewis and Clark Bridge
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.”
One of a dozen ships we saw in the Columbia River.
Astoria, OR
Saddle Mountain, highest mountain in the Oregon Coastal Range,
Photo taken as we crossed Youngs River Bay where it meets the Columbia River.

At the Coast

Carl and I heading out for our first surf walk of the trip
Looking north as we walk along the surf
Sun setting over the Pacific on a cloudless evening
-taken from our surf-side balcony on the first night.
a lone man fishing for surfperch
Walking south along the surf. Tillamook Head in the distance. Beach is empty.
I let Carl get ahead of me so I could get a snapshot of him walking.
Pig’N Pancake downtown Seaside — They open at 6 AM for early birds like us!
After a 3-mile surf walk, we had
a hearty breakfast at Pig’N Pancake:
eggs, sausage/bacon, biscuits & gravy
coffee with cream
While we were walking The Promenade
back to the Inn after breakfast, this gull posed for me–
holding pieces of straw in his beak

Along the Drive Back Home

From Neahkahnie Viewpoint on Hwy 101 looking south.
Nehalem River / Bay is the body of water in the distance.
Driving along Hwy 101 beside Nehalem River / Nehalem Bay

______

This week’s
#PoetryFriday Roundup
is hosted by
Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass
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Poetry Friday Schedule
Jan – June 2019

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