Remnants
My son pockets a dictionary of sand.
Paragraphs slip inside sneakers; sentences trail
through the house. Phrases spread over sheets
and pillows hold the hush of waves erasing regret.
The jar on the shelf holds letters from the beach,
pink and orange fossils- a talk about stars, a walk
under clouds, one kite streaming across the sky.
Whitecaps curl stories we cup in our hands. Smoother
than worries in the road, shells and rocks rounded
by this shore are what we save.
When
all that remains is this fist full of sand,
nails crusted with the wash of tides,
when my hand holds no more promises,
I will carry the pulse of this ocean.
-- Julie Damerell
Julie leads a charmed life with her husband, two children, and a cat. She teaches at a community college and edits the web version of Miller’s Pond. In addition to her chapbook, Needing Blue (H&H Press), her work is included in the anthologies Mother Voices (Sourcebooks 1998), The Best of Melic Review, Three Years Online (2002), Words of Wisdom: Poet's theater Twentieth Anniversary Anthology (H & H Press), and The Best of Tryst 2003. Other publications include Bellowing Ark, ByLine, Conspire, Disquieting Muses, Junket, La Petite Zine, miller’s pond, Savoy, Sijo Blossoms, Zuzu’s Petals, and Ellavon.