HOW TO WRITE A POEM ABOUT THE BEACH

By

Eva Romero

Instructions: Proceed with care (or the technique may not take), for each word is crucial.

• Find a beach (you may have to relocate)


• Pleasant
• Not too crowded
• Great, wide shore
• Rhode Island
• Georgia
• Dover
• Not New Jersey


• Dig a hole


• People may say this is dangerous
• Keep in mind:
• Danger is part of it
• Avoid these people by going at night
• Don’t tell anyone you’re going


• Lower yourself into the hole


• Pull the sand in with you
• Don’t let it steal your breath


• Think about someone you love


• Imagine their arms around you
• Imagine their legs around you
• The sand is:
•  Their legs
• Their arms
• The blowing sea breeze is:
• Their breath
• Their thoughts
• Your memory


• Watch the murmuring black waves ebb and flow by moonlight


• Conjecture the rhythm as something else


• Observe:


• That faint flash of lightning in the distance
• The tide coming in
• No need to worry


• Begin to write your poem


• On:
• A kelp leaf
• The sand (dive deep)
• Your mind (your only exposed part)
• Consider:
• Someone you love
• The moon might be:
• Their mind
• Their voice
• The breeze might be:
• A memory
• Fish
• Something important
•  Dying


• A seagull appears chicken-footed, its beak waddling closer


• Wonder at its aloneness
• Watch its white down feathers blow every which way


• Writing


• May be difficult at this point
• Your arms are held in by sand
• The wind becomes coarse
• The tide inches closer
• You can manage
• Anticipate its invasion