March 2020 SOLC–Day 28
A huge thank you to Two Writing Teachers for all that they do to create an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write, learn, share and grow.
http://www.twowritingteachers.org
Laura Shovan is sponsoring a month-long Water Poem Project. Each day a different poet offers up a water-related prompt. Today’s prompt came from poet, Heather Meloche, who asked writers to create a concrete or shape poem about waves. This prompt seemed especially appropriate since nearby beaches closed yesterday morning.
My husband and I both love walking on the beach. The closest beaches are about 45 minutes away, but we go several times a month during the winter and more often when my schedule opens up in the summer. We usually go early in the day or late in the afternoon. We’re not there to lie in the sun or even to swim (We do live in Maine after all! Brrr!). Instead we walk together, gather shells, watch the sandpipers play tag with the surf, and listen to the call of the seagulls. We scan the water for seals or unusual ducks. We admire newly deposited driftwood and intricate water-etched patterns in the sand. Often we stop and simply stand at the water’s edge, breathe the salt air and watch the waves.
Nix the comfort zone 
I love the way you wrote this comparing your views of the waves. It’s really cool!
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Thanks! Writing concrete poems is a stretch for me, but this one was fun to write.
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I love what you did with this prompt. Concrete poetry intimidates me because I’m never sure how to make it look right. How did you make this?
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Thanks! I think concrete poems are hard, too! I just played around with tabs and spaces. Then I had to take a screen shot to be able to share it here.
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Gorgeous! I am feeling a visceral longing for the beach right now–an empty hole that makes my suburban walks feel so empty and pointless. I love the idea of water poems…and water memories. Your piece is so evocative and I love the comparison–and the concrete poem wave shape!
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I haven’t been able to play along much. Still missing the beach here but finding peace by my much-loved river.
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I’m always amazed when I read someone’s poetry! Beautiful beach poem. You ‘beach’ the way we ‘beach’. 🙂
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Thanks! Here’s hoping we’ll be visiting beaches again soon.
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Very nicely done! I love the word choice in the last line – tentative caress. That would be my kind of wave too!
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Thanks, Leigh Anne. I love the gentle hiss of those soft waves. Like a sigh.
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Thank you for the poem. Waves, sea and poetry bring positivity to a day.
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Thanks, Terje! A little positivity is a welcome thing, so I’m happy to have brought some into your day.
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It looks like a wave poem to me. When I taught poetry to kids, they asked how can you tell if it’s a poem. My response was that it’s a poem if it looks like poem. I know, I know, there are prose poems, but really, they get in on a technicality. Yours looks like a poem. Are you beaches 45 minutes away closed? The ones in York and in neighboring towns are! One less place to walk.
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Our local beaches are closed, but we’re walking a lot locally. Really, I’m surrounded by nature so I can’t complain (even though I do). I feel horrible for people stuck in cities!
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