There is so much to love about the beach.  It is different every day, in temperature and temperament.  It’s a place for meditation, for exercise, for play.  Families have parties, teenagers flirt, lovers walk hand in hand.  Birds glide on the currents, crabs scurry in the sand, and if you’re not lucky rays or bees or jellies sting your tender bare feet.

Yesterday’s beach excursion brought me close to a group of people doing handstand tricks on some handstand devices they placed on the sand.  They carefully placed their hand, jumped up, and balanced into place.  Not content with a simple handstand, they continue to position and reposition, leaning one direction or the other, balancing on one hand, doing splits in the air.

Thinking about all that balancing was the inspiration for today’s poem:

Balance

 

Teetering on the edge

leaning first to the right

and then to the left

shift weight

feel the taut pull of muscles straining

and attention

as eyes narrow their focus

find the delicate balance

first in body, then in mind

Tighten the core

breathe in and out

slowly, deeply

in rhythm with your heart

in rhythm with the sea

in rhythm with the songs of your soul

stretch and reach

inching your way to new dimensions

all the while

maintaining balance

 

Douillard 2018

I’m guessing that Gus was inspired by the books we’ve been reading in class.  We completed The Wild Robot before our spring break and started The Wild Robot Escapes when we returned. (If you’re looking for a great middle grade read aloud–these are great!)

The Robot

I work in a snap

I’m programmed like that.

I do what you say.

I work and I work on something until I’m out of juice,

and then you charge me.

Then I work and I work with a snap,

and I work and I work until my heart’s

content.

Gus

What will this penultimate day of National Poetry Month inspire in your writing?