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a flatlander visits the beach

by Anna Weaver and Doc Hutchings

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about

A poem for those few among us who grew up landlocked, but under big skies and so do not rave about beaches.

lyrics

She looks like all the other out-of-towners—
hair undamaged by salt, black bathing
suit, pareo the color of sunset seen
through a dust cloud.

If you were on the dunes, you’d think
she was gazing. Only the waves
and the pelicans know this is a stare-down.

While the others make ready to prostrate
themselves along the beach, she alone
has come to say to the ocean,
I do not need you.

I come from big sky—bigger than you
and bluer, with mystery deep enough
to float all your little explorers
to an airy death.

I come from the townhouse behind
the parkway, where the cars sing me to sleep
in all seasons—a rhythm fit for drowning
and brackish on the tongue.

You can have your short summers
and the shifting dark of your shallows.
I choose the still ground—where wind
makes an event of ordinary days,
a wildness you cannot fathom.

From the dunes, you will see her turn
away and wonder why the smile,
why she looks back once more
before leaving.

Only the ocean will hear her say, You
are too small for me.

credits

released July 21, 2017
Music by Stephen "Doc" Hutchings, words by Anna Weaver. Recorded at Osceola Studios, Raleigh, NC, 2016.

Photo by Josh Adamski on Unsplash.

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about

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openmictourist Raleigh, North Carolina

Poets Anna Weaver and Ben Molini and musician Stephen "Doc" Hutchings live, work, and collaborate in Raleigh, NC. As half of the acoustic duo FreeRadikal, Doc has recorded two albums, with a third in the works. Ben's and Anna's poems have appeared in journals, zines, anthologies, and elsewhere. Their creative partnerships took root and thrive at local open mic nights. ... more

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