My Love Letter to the Ocean

My Love Letter to the Ocean

The sky is
still inky black-
I sit in the Adirondack chair
alone
on the porch-
breathing in your
briny scent
and listening.

All I can hear
is the rhythm
of your waves.

I hold my breath
for just a moment-
knowing
you’re out there
even though
I can’t see you.

Until-
the sun decides
to begin the day
soon the black
turns purple and pink-

Now I can see you- 
and I can’t stop myself
I stand
and walk towards you-

The sand is cool
between my toes
and the salty air 
kisses my cheeks.

At last, 
we’re together again-
you wash over my feet
in a greeting-
absolving
loving
welcoming me home.

Donnetta told us all about this book. This poetry book that she was enjoying! Eventually, we all bought the same book! In the Teach Write Accountability Writing Group, we all decided to write a poem from this book using the same idea. OCEAN...that's what we picked. It was not a smooth journey for me to write this poem, but I enjoyed it. My first attempt was awful! I didn't know where to begin, so I crossed it all out. The next attempt was too cliche. I'd written all of that before. I did NOT like it. 

I tried again and something I liked better emerged...but it still wasn't right. Messy. Drafts. A few good lines...

A few hours later, I came back to it. After talking about it with another writer, I got a new idea. She mentioned that she used a memory to write her poem. That's where my final poem came from. I love early mornings on the beach all by myself, so that's where the final poem (from above) came from. Here's that notebook page...