(San Clemente Pier City Beach,
San Clemente, California)
“But it’s the same ocean,” he pointed out
before we got here. “And there’s sand.”
And no hurricane has decimated this
place like the one that recently ravaged
an island we love in the middle of the sea.
And today, out on the quarter-mile-long pier
that extends its planked arm over the water,
fishermen (and women and kids)
hang their hopeful lines over the edge
of the pier, praying for a fresh catch
as we eat ours nearby at a sunny table
at a place called Fisherman’s.
And afterward, we tourists walk the pier,
indulge in a heap of shave ice
drenched in passion-orange-guava
syrup over vanilla ice cream,
all of which puts us as close to Hawaii
as we can be on a splendid blue-sky day
in late October, looking out at a ruler-
straight horizon, my flip-flopped feet
on damp sand where the ocean’s
warm froth delights my happy toes.
Your lovely poem tells a story evoking all the senses, full of the glee of life. It reminds me of this quote by Ray Bradbury from a 1980 collection of his writings:
My stories have led me through my life. They shout, I follow. They run up and bite me on the leg—I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off.
Perhaps you should use that as a sort of theme for the next writing seminar you hold. It definitely fits you!
Thank you, Terry! I didn’t know this Bradbury quote, and I’m glad to have it. What a great metaphor… and you’re right—it’s a delightful bit to bring into a future writing workshop!
I KNOW you and Dick had planned to be in Hawaii and San Clemente is NOT Kauai, but it does have it’s own charm and it looks like you found shave ice! Good for you! Enjoy! Love, ~Connie
In your place with RDS, thinking of you two being here while sending much aloha to your fine So. Cal-turned-Coloradan self!