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Open Poetry #49
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By the sea
| Open Poetry #49 |
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By the sea |
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jjote Senior Member
since 2002-12-25
Posts 1088Ontario, Canada 
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They play, these children of the beaches in summer time, clattering the seashore aimlessly bonded to each in childlike camaraderie they are like fruits begging to be picked by tourists who come to the islands to be naughty, carrying with them a weary worldliness in search of such flitting pursuits as getting a sun tan, scuba diving and luxuriating in warm waters. Urchins by the sea, scrounging for opportunity to please, fetch, or carry for them, for a peso or two. Or get them a boat to go island hopping, search for an empty sandy beach where no one can disturb them spreading out owning the space, as they lie in lazy bliss, basking naked in the sun. Carlos is just nine years old, but he can stay down in deep waters without coming up for air for minutes. Tourists throw coins for the kids to dive who get to keep them. Carlos gets rich in summer, being a fast swimmer and a deep sea diver. The tourists come daily and get their kicks from this sport. the kids wait eagerly for them. Ana sells pretty trinkets, seashells made into bracelets, necklaces and such doodads. Her mother makes them. She gets rich in summer too. Arturo's father is a fisherman, going out before the streak of dawn lightens the sky and when the sun comes up, his catch is ready for sale. Arturo trails after vacationers leading them to his father's catch to buy fish or offer to have his mother cook a meal for them. He and his family gets rich in summer. Now summer is gone. The beaches are empty. Children are in school or maybe not if it's too far to walk. Or they have to help their parents raise chickens, grow vegetables on small plots of land and such pursuits to bring food to the table. They bear within them the shifting perceptions of a child forced before his time to turn adult. Only when summer comes will the beach become an enchanted place for them as they roam around free, untethered, unchallenged. A palpable sense of time pervades, wind-ruffled waters, foaming waves splashing ashore all give a momentary pause in the ordinary business of life as they know it. [summer at the beach resorts in my home country bring many tourists, and many kids as well] |
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| © Copyright 2015 Josefina Costales - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Margherita Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236Eternity |
Dear Josefina, your poem is very vivid and renders the beach life in summer very impressively. As long as the children enjoy their "performances" it's good, no doubt sometimes they are asked to overdo in order to impress the tourists ... You also brought back memories from my own childhood when my brother and me were always under water trying to improve our skills and the length of our underwater swimming ...(in the lake of Zurich, Switzerland) just out of fun. But one day there was a man watching us and when we finally got out of the water he said we were really good and he gave us money to have an ice-cream. We had such fun! I much enjoyed your poetic ability here. Love, Margherita  |
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jjote Senior Member
since 2002-12-25
Posts 1088Ontario, Canada |
thanks Margherita. I'm trying to recall childhood scenes and hopefully find the words to write them |
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tracie66 Member Elite
since 2000-01-18
Posts 4713Australia |
wow! what a wonderful write, so visual. Loved the images that your poem produced!  Love is the life of the soul... |
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JamesMichael Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336Kapolei, Hawaii, USA |
As vivid as a travel writer...james |
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