It was still fairly dark when I reached the beach, after 7 am, before the shell pickers. I walked under a peaceful sky on a vacant beach, along the shore. I didn’t meet a soul for quite some time; then, it was only one lone shell picker, his plastic bag of shells dangling, bumping his knee, he was shining his flashlight at the waving shore. I said good morning, and I was glad, I woke early into this quiet, mysterious morning. There were so many sand dollars washed up, too many to count, and no one had whisked them away. I kept walking to the bridge, as usual. Passed only one or two more people. It was breezy, rainy, cold, and I didn’t mind at all. I like it this way, wilder and lonesome. It was quiet, only the call of the gulls, the swish of the surf, so mild. I was sheltered in the bluest blue of this striped sky. I passed a lone jelly fish, a cannonball, I later learned. I thought about my post card poems, the mystery of them, the strangeness, and how much they are emerging as creatures from a mysterious place, spontaneously imagined, unplanned. I have to sit with them and see what comes, what they want to tell me in the stillness and quiet. They are not logical. Or, they are, and I must let them have their logic and let them explain themselves in their own time. It was such a treasured gift I collected this morning: the experience of this beach, so early and fresh and untouched by human beings. A blue universe, and I belonged to it.
At lunchtime, I met with a new friend, a member of IWWG who lives in Sarasota, a writer who came to the IWWG Open House I ran at Bookstore 1 when I first arrived. We’ve been trying to get together since. We talked writing plays and poetry and I was able to share some suggestions and resources for her developing her poetry chapbook, and I was intrigued and inspired by her personal history and her vitality - in her 80’s, with vital energy, creativity and interests. We share many passions and interests and we could have talked all afternoon. In the rain. A rare rainy day. A satisfying one, from beginning to end.