July 2023
Author's Note: What better place for finding peace than the ocean? I have been incredibly lucky to live on the NC coast for a decade now. As I was writing my chapbook, On Shifting Shoals (Kelsay 2023), about life here, I found that peace often expressed itself in small moments, like a shell you can finger in your pocket. Here are a few of the poems I found along the shore.
Recipe
We know each other, morning’s first beach walkers, gawking at the crimson egg that hovers on horizon’s edge. We stop to watch it crack, yolk spreading across the sky, nourishing us more than anything scrambled up in kitchens. No names, addresses, loves, longings, losses. We simply share this recipe for how to start the day.
Originally published in On Shifting ShoalsKelsay Books, 2023
Words
Words tumble like waves over rocks spraying hard edges of thought leaving ideas slippery but shining
Originally published in On Shifting ShoalsKelsay Books, 2023
Rescue
Wind scuttles a toddler’s rubber ball toward the waves’ greedy fingers, a globe-painted orb, lush green continents, spinning oceans. I block its path, toss it to the child’s eager arms. I splash back at the sea, today I saved the world.
Originally published in On Shifting ShoalsKelsay Books, 2023
©2023 Joanne Durham
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