Grateful Visitor at the Beach

Welcome to Poetry Friday! This week we are hosted by Tricia HERE. Thank you, Tricia, for hosting. I hope everyone is anticipating a peaceful summer. Mine will be a little busy and exciting, too, as our eldest son is getting married in San Francisco this summer. Big Yay!!!

There is no planning for me to do. (Another Big Yay!!!) I only hope we will get there in some appropriate wedding clothes.

I’m beginning this post with a quote. 

LIVE IN THE SUNSHINE, SWIM IN THE SEA, DRINK THE WILD AIR.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, found here.)

When I visited Santa Cruz, California last winter for a family visit, we walked along the ocean walkway drinking in the wild air and sea.

I was astounded, the density of wildlife, like these cormorants below, hanging out on rocks. I wrote a haiku previously about them for National Poetry Month Here.

I saw seals swimming under a pier, and mossy rocks like these, covered with pelicans:

The natural environment here, this amazing setting, is a magnet for surfers in wet suits, with a surfing museum and monuments to celebrate the sport:

SANTA CRUZ HAIKU

Pelicans and seals
Surfers out chasing the waves—
Earth their canvas.

A memorial to surfers who lived their lives celebrating the waves:

But the sky, the ocean and the wildlife, though resilient, are fragile. 

A Walk on the Santa Cruz Beach

How can it be that 
human life
can change something 
as huge and ancient
as our planet?

Today, I walk softly--
 
in awe of the thousands 
of cormorants and pelicans
diving and fishing
along the Santa Cruz coast,
on rocks glistening black.

©Janice Scully 2023

What would Santa Cruz be like without the rugged coastline, the birds, and the surfers? What would Syracuse, my home, be like without hills, lakes, and hundreds of robins to hear and watch?

What is the environment like where you live, the plants and animals that you think is special, that you’d like to protect? In the Badlands of South Dakota, below, perhaps rattlesnakes help make it a special place, to be respected.

Thank you, Tricia, for hosting. Happy June!!!

8 thoughts on “Grateful Visitor at the Beach”

  1. A wedding! How exciting! Congrats to all. I love the pelican-covered rocks and “Earth their canvas.” Lovely, Janice.

  2. What joy–a wedding! And Janice, your poem is wonderful. The question that first stanza asks…it makes me feel powerful, in a good way. Kids need to hear this, this reminder of how much impact we have.

  3. Wonderful to look forward to a wedding, Janice, will be a summer delight. You’ve shown that delight in your words for this ocean place. I love the Pacific, have been to several places with all you showed & it’s special to note we have a dire need to ‘walk softly’.

  4. Aww…I grew up near Santa Cruz and love that you found joy in your walks on the coast! When I’m on the coast, I always wonder if it feels as ragged and fragile as it looks — being windswept and wave-pounded forever. Thank you for walking softly!

  5. Yes to noticing, loving, and protecting the wild spaces…wherever they are (and however nasty the bite)!!

  6. Janice, I love this post — so thoughtful and thought-provoking. Congratulations on getting to go to a wedding without having to be the planner. That’s fabulous. And, I never would have considered a memorial for surfers. But, of course. How beautiful. My hubby and I are going to San Fran this summer. I can’t wait to be snapping pics of that beautiful scenery for myself. Maybe I will write a poem as beautiful as ‘A Walk on a Santa Cruz Beach.’

  7. I love cormorants. What a wonderful trip. “earth their canvas” is beautiful. In winter, the rattlesnakes probably were deep asleep.

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