Best The Sea Poems
Oceana
Oceana flings her sequined petticoats
Upon the sands as if to toss the seaweed
From the swirling edges
While she dances with the wind
With each turn she swings her skirts
In thunder
As she passes – faster, faster -
Until her laughter foams upon the waves
And in the early midnight dawns
She turns to cover up
Her turquoise evening gown
With capes of fog so thick
The soaring gulls seem to carry
This her summer train
To quickly change into a dress of silver satin,
Bound with trims of frothy sprays,
Rising and swelling,
When morning reaches for windy afternoons,
She teases sudden lightning outbursts
Leaving behind upon the outstretched strands
A foaming lace of pearls
That decorate her new rippling dress
Of brilliant sapphire blue
Drawing it around the world in flowing currents
To follow, ever follow, the lilting music
Of her lover moon,
Softly singing enchanted melodies,
Ever beckoning his earthbound bride unto himself
To watch her gaily waltz upon the rolling seas
Circling to his rune.
8-22-25
3rd - Rob Carmack Premiere VIII
6-29-22 - N/A
Contest: Marathon Mile Five
Sponsor: Mark Toney
8-13-22 -
5th - Poetry Marathon Mile 12
Sponsor: Mark Toney
6/20/19
On Top 100 All Time Poems list
1st - Trophy Win - Juliet Lingon
1st - Julia Ward 11/29/20
1st - Brian Strand 1/14/20
Featured Poem 5/2/21
Included in Poetry Soup Anthology #2 - It's Still Poetry
Included in CWC Anthology - First Prize Winner Independent Publishers Award
Indie Press Awards
Sea of Love
The ebb and flow that comes and goes
with ocean’s deep emotion shows
that hearts, like knaves, become her slaves
beneath the undulating waves.
Excitement grows as hearts expose
amid the tempting tide’s repose;
surf’s breaking roar laps on their shore;
hearts enter through her luring door.
The ocean knows, as passion grows,
the secrets that they don’t disclose;
these hearts on fire with wild desire,
waves pounding as their needs require.
The ebb and flow still comes and goes
while sea of love, these hearts, depose,
and lust’s decree will always be
a product of this stormy sea.
November 7, 2019
I: In Rhyme
when the world had no headsets
the sunbathing crowd
fell asleep to the sounds of
transistors played loud
while the deckchairs and windbreaks
kites, beach balls and more
formed the stripes, lines and circles
that painted the shore
and the longer I walked
on the sand to that sea
the more the sea seemed
to get further from me
and the crunch in my mouth
was that one grain of sand
in the sandwich I ate
with my sand covered hand
while the lemons and melons
and plums I'd watch spin
would stop short of a cherry
one click from a win
and the postcards we sent
from the end of the pier
were of blue skies and donkeys
and "wish you were here".
II: In Free Verse
from the end of the pier
through the stiff breeze
and spindrift
I can still hear the tunes
of the promenade bands
and I can still see the stripes
of the deckchairs and windbreaks
and the box kites
and beach balls
that painted the shore
and I can still taste
the butter
- warm like the canned ham
and the crunch of that sand
in the sandwich I had
and I can still hear the djs
laughing and talking
spinning hits of the sixties
from transistors
played loud
and I can still smell the onions
frying wild in the fairground
to the sound of the claxons
and the lemon. click. orange. click. melon.
click. click.
and I can still breathe the deep smoke
swirling in sand dunes
from the benson and hedges
and
player's no.6
and I can still see those grown ups
staring at mirrors
- their bodies distorted
like the dreams
they once had
today on the pier
the rain that's now falling
falls from a same sky
on a same sand
and same sea
and a
same
me
- yet this air
this air
is not the same air
as that air I
once
breathed.
To be a bird and glide above the sea.
How wondrous that would be! To soar so high
amidst tranquility while wheeling free
above the currents in my azure sky.
I’d travel with the breeze in summertime,
then fly down low to touch cool salty spray.
To be one with such majesty – a rhyme
of “sea” and “me” would be this poet’s play!
At sunset I would thrill to see the view
beyond the bright horizon of the beach.
How magical would be the twilight's hue
that mirrored rippled water just in reach!
And when the moon and stars were big and bright,
I’d sweep the tides in stillness of the night.
Along the feathered edge, a red sun-sets
To bind the evening in dreams eyes explore
Two hearts will greet, till' paradise begets
Love leaves impressions as waves swirl to shore
These caps of white will churn warmly the sand
The world will pass, the change of light is missed
Lonely eyes search for their yearning dreamland
When lips taste fire in a hungry kiss
As night arrives to shelter silhouettes
Soft is the sea to these two souls afar
In a twilight's pulse when the tide resets
And hands hold tight to await the Daystar
The fate of these lovers sealed in evermore
Tomorrow's memory from the seashore
9/3/18
On the beach I found a seashell
luster of colors mixed with gold illuminate
Washed by the sea millions of times
tides turn as gentle footprints remain
I sit and ponder, how could it happen
salt breeze within an ocean's breath inhales
A journey of unimaginable time
drifting murmurs echo against waves crashing
In the sunlight it shone with many shades
satin pearl treasure heart between two shells
Carefully I opened and found its soul
it was then as one on whitewashed wings we flew free
I found a beautiful princess of the sea
Upon a sigh or dream revealed its inner secret
A Collaborated Poem
Anne-Lise Andresen and Liam Mc Daid
15.05.2016
(unrhymed couplets)
Copyright © All Rights Reserved
I see the pain
Reflected via turquoise blue
Of the oceans hue
She stares out into the oceans depth
Lost
Her lover dead under the sea
The waves have made her destiny
I stare at her
From a hill above the shore
Her pain cripples me such
That I can not move
How can I love this woman so
The small of her back
Invites me to hold her
Caress her tears into the sea
The salt water offers comfort
Massaging her feet
The sun glitters with hopeful endeavors
That neither of us feels at all
I am in love with this woman
Since a wee child long ago
Her pain is my pain
Yet my guilt I carry alone
Tomorrow
We both will stand hand in hand
To bury her husband
My brother
As I keep secret my love and desire
Only wishing her sadness to ebb
Into the sea that took hold of part of me
My brother I loved and honored
So on the hill above the shore
I stare at the woman I always adored
Oh brother forgive me my thoughts
As I wish to comfort your lovers broken heart
"By the sea, all worries wash away"
(Saw this quote on a sign in my doctor office and I loved it.)
Since by the sea, all worries wash away,
I think I’ll go down to the beach today,
where palm trees in warm summer breezes sway,
before the sun peeks out above the bay.
Fair weather is expected. Clouds of grey
are not expected. I think that I may
jump waves as if I were a child at play!
Yes, by the sea I’ll go without delay.
From morn till twilight's crimson glow I'll stay.
For Angela Tune's
Weather Poetry Contest
Swept away
the last colour
of sunset,
Ocean in his eyes,
winds and waves
the sea-man loved.
Forever gone
the late-song
of night birds,
crushed corals,
sand and rocks
the sea-man loved.
Blown afar
the harvest seeds,
Flowers in his heart,
Petals in bloom,
Pale-pink blossoms
the sea-man loved.
Found and lost
the light of stars,
Alone He sailed
through narrow paths,
to mountain'shadows
the sea-man loved.
In hope to smell
the scent of her hair,
In hope to wipe
rain off her lips,
In hope to taste
her roasting- chestnuts,
to mend regrets
with just one kiss.
I walked home alone in the dampening mist
as the pastel colored sky blanketed the sun
His rays sank into the sea for their daily tryst
Resting among the waves, his work was done
And now the moon will rise in splendid glory
bringing lovers together in her lustrous light
while the mist hides the tears of my sad story
My heart is broken and my spirit is contrite
My cottage hearth will hold no warming fire
It's to darkness that I'll open my creaking door
No smiling face or welcome words will transpire
Twilight's become the time of day I most abhor
She would run and greet me when I neared home
But no longer do her laughing eyes meet mine
Her eyes now shine where she chose to roam
Bitter on my tongue is the taste of finest wine
Pity is not an emotion in which I choose to wallow
One day when the sun no longer drowns in the sea
perhaps then my wine will be pleasant to swallow
and memories of lost love will no longer torture me
Treasure from the sea
Golden doubloon
Sixteenth Century artifact
By ancestors hewn
Earth’s history lays buried
Beneath five oceans
As undersea tremors
Create violent commotions
Freeing from Spanish galleons
Precious metals, gemstones
To greet early beachcombers
History on loan
Memories of bygone ages
Scattered on the sand
Finally kissed by sun again
While in a searcher’s hand
I pursue this morning trek
With Atlantis on my mind
Seeking proof at last
In treasures I might find
When ancient civilizations
Seem to disappear
Comb the beach, you might find
The evidence is here
For like a phoenix rising
New finds appear each day
And I’ll not stop searching
Till doubts I can allay
I thought I had hooked the world’s largest grouper
After struggling for hours, I was still reeling
Refused help from a friend; I was a trooper
Somehow I found its resistance appealing
Hot sun on the Gulf had me in a stupor
And in my hands I started to lose feeling
It finally came into view just before dark
Was shocked to find a fifteen-foot tiger shark
He’d just been toying with me all afternoon
And he was more than half the size of my boat
I felt like a comic in a weird lampoon
My heart seemed to be rising up in my throat
Captain Ahab might have viewed this as a boon
But far too much weight did this tiger shark tote
He bolted, took off, stripped the line from my reel
And I had to cast elsewhere for my next meal
* For Thvia's "The One That Got Away" contest (True Story!)
I set the stage for tropical romance;
among my rocks have sirens’ songs been sung.
Yet some who dare to traverse my expanse
into the briny depths of me are flung.
Inconstant as the sun that comes and goes,
I’m calm as windless day or still of night;
then furious as hurricanes that blow.
You cannot know my mind nor guess my might.
By ancients I was feared and deified,
and still two thirds of all the earth I rule!
Let humans learn the ebb of every tide,
but he who disrespects me is a fool.
The plight of humankind will be its worst
when I and land for sins of man are cursed.
Memories of the sea wash over me
on days when clouds are drifting cottony
above my head through placid azure sky.
Such images flit like a butterfly
across my mind; I seize them gratefully!
They bring with them sweet thoughts of family
and times of which I now can testify
flowed out like tides to leave me by and by. . .
memories of the sea.
How young we were in days so summery!
Through waves we leapt, expending energy.
Sated, we lay sunning on the beach to dry,
till sunlight - like our youth - sank down to die.
But I will keep for an eternity
memories of the sea.
Beside the sea I wait~
the dreamy dawn to shine
and paint horizon's hue
in tawny, taupe and teal
unveiling vivid view.
Beside the sea I wait~
the early birds in flight
arching like tiara
making sky a painting
of placid aurora.
Beside the sea I wait~
the whisper of the breeze
soaring as sunshine sings
her stellar symphony
reviving lost musings.
Beside the sea I wait~
the crashing of the waves
sparkling like sunlit snow
as they return to shore
my love will, too, I know.