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View from the Beach
after Robert Frost’s “A Cliff Dwelling”
Here hazy seems the azure sky
and azure seems the hazy sea.
One lone gull lends an echoed cry
somewhere out there, a longing call.
A faint mirage that has a sail,
a speck of white, a floating plea
of wishful thinking, wanton ease,
and how the ocean might unveil
a warm rapport and deeper calm.
I’m focusing. It’s time to seize
my worldly thoughts, however small
before the final last wave’s fall
upon this sandy shore called time.
.
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Lucia Haase has several books of poetry published and was recently included in a poetry anthology titled Symphonies of the Wild Hearted available on Amazon.com. She also recently had poetry accepted by several publications including Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, The Long Islander, Nostalgia Press, The Raven’s Perch, and POEM publication. She lives in Spring Valley, Illinois.
Thanks, Lucia.
This really does evoke the beach wonderfully! The summer after my high school graduation (1976), I worked at one of the beaches on Long Island. Your poem reminds me of the quieter days that summer.
Good job!
Thank you so much Paul! It was inspired by Robert Frost’s ‘A Cliff Dwelling.’
Lucia
Oh, my goodness, this is so beautiful and profound! I love the reversal of the adjectives in the first two lines, and the metaphor in the last line. The meter seems to evoke the peaceful sound of waves. I love it!
Thank you so much Cynthia! Much appreciated.
Lucia
That was lovely, Lucia. The vividness of a coastal experience we’ve all had, followed by an overarching metaphor was quite an unexpected turn.
Thanks for the read.
Thanks alot Paul. I love writing about the ocean.
Lucia
Lucia, I like the poem as clearly modeled on Frost’s, but more direct and personal to you, the poet and speaker. Frost sees or imagines someone else long ago (“ten thousand years”), while you use the wave and ocean view to focus on your own place in time. Especially good, I think, are the lines on the indistinct sail or mirage.
Thank you so much Margaret! Much appreciated.
This poem is remarkably well-crafted — “tight” and “compact,” with no word wasted. The description is vivid, the metaphor clear and profound, and you have some wonderful turns of phrase as in the first two verses. I love to read poems like this; reading them is like unwrapping a present.
It’s also good to see a fellow Midwesterner writing about the sea. I think it’s distance makes the experience more profound.
Hi Adam,
Thank you. I would love to live by the sea. I live in a country atmosphere here near the Illinois River. I enjoy that also too.
Your work, Lucia, rings with authenticity and truth, leaving the reader wondering why it doesn’t go on forever. Rare stuff.