SAYING GRACE (photo) & ON BRIGHTON BEACH BOARDWALK (old, non-dream poem) by Roswila

ON BRIGHTON BEACH BOARDWALK

Decades have passed since I last
traced this shoreline.
Restaurants now bear chic names
and umbrellas over their trendy outdoor
tables, where memory holds out for crowded
bars and Jewish delis opening on the boardwalk,
awash in aromas of beer and knishes.

I am startled to find the old wooden
steps down to the beach buried in the sand,
only the top curve of railing still beckoning,
a beginning that is its own ending.

The beach itself has narrowed
with the years, even as I have expanded,
both ocean and my shadow claiming
more territory, like the sand packed
beneath the boardwalk burying that dark
cave we teenagers retreated to.

That underground I played in, grasping
after the brass ring in a life spinning
rapidly out of control, as I drank too much
and necked with one guy or another
in the boardwalk’s shadows.

With one heavy sigh I accept that the cave
and its shadows have been laid to rest, slowly
and surely, gracefully and not, with the passing
of season after season.

I sit on a bench to rest my aging knees, giving
way gratefully to the immediacy of light
and heat, to this moment of clear
skies and all-embracing seas.

Sometimes it is good
to be faced with good-bye.

* * * *

[No viable dream recall from last night, which is a little surprising given I went to sleep in an upset mood. So I started wandering through really old posts to see if one might be suitable for today. I stumbled on this now 16 year old poem previously posted here in 2007. What I try to address in the poem remains as true for me as the day I first drafted it in 1996 when still living in New York City. I had participated in a Labor Day poetry reading on the boardwalk by Coney Island -- which is just a walk down the way from Brighton Beach. After the reading, I decided to stroll to Brighton Beach, not having visited it in at least 25 years. I am reposting this poem today for its reminder about good-byes, which I am sorely in need of right now. Image "Saying Grace," new photo by Roswila]

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO DREAMKU (& PHOTOS): The dream-based poems posted on this blog -- dreamku, tanka, two-liners, and monoku -- are offered in the spirit of collaboration. I have done my part. Now it’s your turn to jump in and see what comes up for you. I.e., there is no right or wrong way to understand or interpret any of these dream offerings. Even my own understandings of them change over time. And it gives me joy when a reader sees something in any of them that I have not.

For more in-depth exploration:

-- a brief post about both dreamku and my photos THE AREN'TS OF DREAMKU & ACCOMPANYING DIGITAL PHOTOS.

-- detailed three-part post about dreamku: "A DREAMKU PRIMER: Writing Haiku-Like Poems About Your Night Dreams": PART ONE: Introduction & Writing Dreamku as Dream Work; PART TWO: Elements of the Haiku Form Used in Dreamku; and PART THREE: How to Write Dreamku (the second and third parts have some overlap).

-- a brief up-dating post about the three-part "A DREAMKU PRIMER" -- Important Up-date to A DREAMKU PRIMER....".

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,






If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”). Roswila's other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.