Briny foam deposits anonymous relics,
tumbled sea glass, ceramic shards.
Deposits of what once was
spurred imagination to pen.
Vast expanse edged by the granular,
waters creased afar by horizon line.
I miss thy rolling waves,
my salt-kissed lips, now bare.
Lids closed shut, head bowed.
Mortar, brick and cement sight lines
erased by self-enforced darkness.
Pigeon lined window ledges unseen,
gulls imagined delete traffic squeals.
Oceanic Muse, realm of Neptune,
despondent without thy grace.
Oh that I might return to thee.
Written for dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. It’s Tuesday Poetics and today Ingrid asks us to consider the Muse. She tells us that direct invocations of the Muse are rare in modern poetry. She gives us several choices on how to go about writing a poem today that considers the Muse.
For me, I’ve always loved the ocean. The photos are from one of five winters we spent in Bermuda where the waters are incredible shades of blue and green. We often hiked along the Old Railway Trail which provided many views of the ocean’s splendor. We continue to spend two weeks every fall in Provincetown, at the very tip of Cape Cod. Our rental unit is right on the ocean’s shore. Today I sit in our Boston high rise condominium, realizing how much the ocean is my Muse.
lillian the home poet 
So beautiful!
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Oh yes, I am with you! I just love to be by the sea, and it has inspired many poems for me. We don’t have open ocean here, but the Adriatic provides plenty of inspiration 🙂
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How lovely to have that Oceanic Muse. I am envious of those lovely sights and rolling waves of blue and green.
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loving the pic and the poem eqalilly. being the sea is a great place to find yousel.
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Oh, I know so many (including My Beloved Sandra) for whom the sea is Muse. Though I do not share, I certainly understand. You’re fortunate that you can conjure, even when you’re not in its presence. Salute, Lillian!
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The ocean was Muse for my wife 30 years ago. I was a mountain man, a forest bathers. But my wife has changed me, and the Pacific calls to me with every easterly breeze.
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“And I know Martin Eden’s gonna be proud of me, and many before me been called by the sea” –Tom Waits.
I think that many of us feel that call. As a native of the Great lakes State, I certainly understand it.
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Ooooo, I love your Oceanic Muse Lillian ☺️💕 The sea has many characters and is very inspiring.
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Oh, I love this and I could see it all as one scene cross-faded into the other at muses words.
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Well done Lillian. The ocean does speak to us and draw us to its shores. Time to get out to the shore once more!
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This is lovely, Lillian. I’m not so into the sea, but my wife very much is!
❤
David
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Gorgeous poem and photo, Lilian! Love your Muse of the Sea. 💚
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This is lovely! And I share your love of the ocean. A place of frequent mental rebirth.
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Yes, Lillian … the oceans have been inspiring writers for eons, myself included. Your Neptune poem is beautiful.
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I love the image you chose that looks as close to heaven as anything, Lillian. My favorite lines:
“I miss thy rolling waves,
my salt-kissed lips, now bare.”
I can see why the ocean would be your muse.
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Oh I love this, and I love the ocean. Sounds like you and I, too, left part of our muse there and long to reunite. Beautiful!
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This is a beauty, Lillian!
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