Beach walk
Many of us find the ocean a good place to let our minds breathe and reflect on the broader questions of life. At the May Hoot, Anne Dewees read this beautiful meditative poem:
BEACH WALK
late afternoon chill, tide dead low
only a slash of silver
disjoins gray sea from sky
brown seaweed traces secrets
on hard packed sand
I search the gleaming tide pools
for pale starfish
mossy green snails
the blue mussels that will not open
to give me answers
about the coming of age
before I grow old
– Anne Dewees
Through precise and evocative visual details, Anne considers the universal theme of aging, “search[ing]” on her walk for hints, “secrets,” even “answers” that resist opening – while at the same time savoring the pleasure and consolation that nature’s beauty and variety provide us. To me the poem expresses both an acceptance and resistance to “the coming of age.” I find the short lines, three line stanza form, and indentations very effective in slowing the reader’s pace to match the narrator’s walk and the reflective mood of Anne’s lovely poem.
– Harvey Shepard
(hshepard@gmail.com)
“Beach Walk” copyright 2007 by Anne Dewees. Anne Dewees is an active member of the Portsmouth poetry community. Her work has appeared in The Aurorean, Compass Rose, Avocet, Heartbeat of New England, Portsmouth Unabridged and other publications. She has published a chapbook, Crossing Points ( Hobblebush Books, 2004), and is on the Board of the Portsmouth Poet Laureate Program.