I’ve been reading Kyle Vaughn’s Lightning Paths and writing through the daily exercises. Today’s prompt inspires writers to write an ode about or an elegy for a person. On November 20, 2020, I wrote an ode to my childhood playground on the Sapelo River. Our family sold the property in McIntosh County, Georgia that had been a part of my life since I was a young child. I’m sharing that poem here today, once again. I’d shared the poem with my brother, one of the realtors, and at the closing, the new owners brought a framed copy of this poem that they planned to put up in the house; they shared an emotional closing on the property and on that chapter of our lives.
Ode to Sapelo River your marsh and river at dawn and dusk ever-changing palette of brilliant hues, whose back we scratched on novice skis, whose arm we tickled casting lines, nets whose oaks huddled family gatherings and sheltered peaceful togetherness you picked up the dinner check: deviled crab, steamed shrimp, fried fish and lulled us in a dock hammock as we listened for playful dinnertime dolphins your trees and river breezes brought cleaner air to clear the lungs the mind your heart our refuge from demands and deadlines well done, friend! now you’re ready to fully embrace and care for a new family who’ll take your empty shell and breathe new life into you you have so much more to give and you’re long overdue for a makeover and the laughter of family flooding your veins we’ll never forget the joy you brought us! so long, old friend! the memories live on….
Common Threads 