pier’s end
The quiet language of this day
Speaks in unhurried tones.
Especially true out here on
This old wooden pier
As waves easily slide themselves,
Leisurely, on their swollen way
To the waiting sloping sand.
In the distance, eager pipers
Race the rising foam and
Chase it from the beach as
The wave in practiced form retreats
And gulls call out in shrill repeats.
Seasoned men stand and fish,
Some for joy but most for food.
Their small catch is, at best, meager
Yet just enough for the evening meal.
They greet each other with respect;
“how are you?” and “how’d you do?”
Polite banter light and clear,
Crisp as on-shore salty breezes.
The stresses on my heart lift.
Here my worried world becomes bright.
My eyes clear to watch a bird in flight.
I find myself standing, at the end,
Longing to know this quiet language.
~r.
All rights reserved,
© Jan.2005 R. Braley
(astralshepherd)
Author notes
the picture is of the Imperial Beach Pier
Written January 10th, 2005
In a list
What did you think
Comments
1 - 48 of 48
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This is great. It's happy, but lonely, and you captured that feeling well.
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Sorry, I read this yesterday, but it kinda left me dumbstruck. I couldn't think of anything that could truly describe how incredible this actually is. Everything that poetry is, is wrapped up into this piece you have. This is what most poets strive to create, and here you have done it. Your talents are simply extraordinary. The imagery, the wording, the flow, and then the picture you have to illustrate the words, they are all divine. Excellent job on this piece.
becca
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this poem remeinds me of when west brighton pier burned down, it was written in a sensitive manner and realism of how life at a coast is like and the way you described the sea painted the perfect picture, a great poem.
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Great poem. I love going to the beach and the boardwalk. I miss it, you know, being winter and all. Awsome poem. Keep up the great work.
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wanting that connectedness of old fishermen on the pier ... interesting reading
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Excellent
I don't know what to say.. but whatever you were aiming for hit every mark, well done =) -
i enjoyed this a lot! one day i hope to have the versitility to write like this
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Good poem
Nice work. I love the pier and I miss it so...this poem really brought me back to the pier I spent so much time on over the years (although 15 years isn't very long...) -
Wonderful poem. I love the way that although it is a peaceful, almost cheerful poem, you manage to add in that little bit that keeps us in reality.
Seasoned men stand and fish,
Some for joy but most for food.
Their small catch is, at best, meager
Yet just enough for the evening meal. -
This poem has a diffrent impact for me.
The lines
"As waves easily slide themselves,
Leisurely, on their swollen way
To the waiting sloping sand.
In the distance, eager pipers
Race the rising foam and
Chase it from the beach as
The wave in practiced form retreats
And gulls call out in shrill repeats.
Seasoned men stand and fish,
Some for joy but most for food."
Remind me of growing up near the shore.
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Good poem. I luv the beach. I also luv the seagulls. great poem. keep it up.
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Very Good
I love this poem.. I grew up in Maine and the picture looks oddly familiar to a pier I used to visit in Old Orchard Beach.. The poem was refreshing to read. great job -
oooo i see you were quiet inspired here. ya nature will do that to you
ya a lot of stuff comes to mind when i lok out into the sea, and just like you, id love to know how it is. nice write
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You've made me realize how badly I miss the water in my land-locked state of New Mexico. I could hear the waves lapping as I read your poem. Thanks
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There is a serenity about the picture your graceful words describe. It takes me back many years ago, to a pier not unlike this one. In my youth it was such a magical place for me. The vastness of the view held me captive as did your wonderful words.
Great work.
sam
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good job
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beautiful
I love the internal rhythm of it, its mirrors the beach and puts the reader right there. -
Peaceful, serene, wistful longing, and calmness. I think you captured a great many emotions here. Lovely write.
~~~POO~~~ -
While on the whole, the poem does a good job of illustrating the images for our mind's eye (and here, I think the photograph and page border distract rather than enhance), toward the end, it seems to take a sharp turn from being a place descriptive poem to an introspective on the speakers feelings. And I don't think enough time is spent developing the speakers involvement with the surroundings they are describing.
Don't get me wrong, I can see that work was put into this poem. I just think a re-write might be in order to either seperate the speaker from the surroundings...or to fully integrate that person into them.
Thank you for writing. Keep at it!
Jim -
Polite banter light and clear,
Crisp as the on-shore salty breezes.
The stresses on my heart lift.
Here my worried world becomes bright.
My eyes clear to watch a bird in flight.
I find myself standing, at the end,
Longing to know this quiet language.
These are some really good lines!! GREAT WRITE!!! I love it!
~Lyndz~ -
Did you mean meagre ?
Sorry, but I think a protozoa could have written this ! -
awesome! i really like this, great imagry! i luv this, its so true! keep it uP!
Gem~chan -
Excellent
I LOVE, ocean, beach, sand pipers, seagulls chattering day and night, ends of piers and faces past from beach to end and this poem that like a seashell is an ocean lullaby.
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I loved the picture, the images of starfish and gentle surf, and of course the poem. It feels like we are really there because of the food connection. Yummm seafood, who doesn't love it? What a great place to be. You really captured that feeling of being in the middle of the life of the pier.
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this is a pretty, peaceful poem. the description leaves me wishing it was summer and i could go visit the piers near where i live..
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Good Piece
Wow! I loved that. It was as though I was transported to that pier with you. When I first read the title, I was expecting to find some meditative, metaphysical piece, but what I found was fantastic nonetheless. Keep up teh good work, dear writer! -
i agree with the serenity i feel coming from this poem
the way you describe the "little" things is to be envied. these are tiny little details that feed the motion picture machine in my head so i get all visuals
awesomely done! -
Well done
This piece inspires great comfort. I grew up on just such piers, and the longing it creates is bittersweet. -
good
this is really good you should definately keep writing i really like the first couple of lines -
excellent, a great director of words and imag
I have read a few of your pieces, and you have such a subtlety in your words. Each one leaves me in a place of thought and introspection. I think it draws me also, because it is what I appreciate in my husband's writing style. Sometimes he feels that many readers run to quickly through the work for the slightest nuances to be detected.
I really enjoy your short stories and poetry... Each one brings me to see what insight you might shed in the next. ~Ag
Ps...TY for linking us to this site, we are enjoying it fully. -
wonderful,my hero.you gave me a moment of peaceful respite when i read this.you captured the essence of the life on the pier.i like the scattered rhyme patteren of this.another job well done.
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Nice poem, it is a little long but it suits the topic. The picture is a great idea.
Nice write.
*F* -
this is kinda cool. i like the picture you paint here. most of the men here are fishing to survive. you point out that they aren't exactly the best off and yet the are kind to each other. i wonder.... if we coudl understand that silent language , what would we hear?
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thats a great poem for some reason i get the image of back in the old days and cowboy on the shore fishing. oh how i wish i could live back then. we are so rural now. i love your wreing though it was wonderful and in enjoyed it tremndously.
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Dear astralshepard,
pier's end
We all find comfort and safety in a certain place. Getting away, if only for a few moments, is sometimes all that we may need to keep going.This poem seems to be very calming, thanks so much for sharing a piece of you! Keep'em coming!
MM
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This gives me a very serene feeling. I love the fishing peers at the beaches. My favorite thing to do is to go to the very end and look out over the ocean, intentionally not seeing the rest of the surroundings, just the water. It always looks like you can see the world's roundness and I feel as if I'm walking on water.
Beautiful Richard.
~Lyrical
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thanks for the cheer Richard, I could almost hear the birds talking as they swoon and pick up their evening meal of small fish
great style, meter and measure you take in your walk with the Lord.
Tamara -
Loved your poem kudos
Your poem took me all the way home. I too live in such a place. I'm vacationing right now and realise how much I truely love my little sea shore community. Loved your poem. -
i liked this, best poem ive read today, i needed something subtle and simple, i really like the lauange thing, that was cool, the simplicity of the sence your gratefulness, but i didn't this line
The wave in practiced form retreats
And gulls call out in shrill repeats.
just didn't fit at least at sound, im sure you could make this poem better, but i still enjoyed it, thanks, peace dude -
I really enjoyed where your words took me here...sometimes we all need a place to just reconnect with life after going through the motions of the daily grind for so long that we almost forget to just stop and be...what a wonderful visual and tone you've captured here indeed!
Mozaic
Edited on Jan 10, 10:16 p.m. because ''. -
This has a great tone. Makes me want to go to the beach again. Although, I'm close to one, it's still raining like crazy where I'm at. I have a couple of suggestions, but they are minor. The first one is in the capitalization of the first word of line, it doesn't really add to anything here. The second suggestion is, maybe break it up into stanzas. I think it'd be easier to read. As for the content itself, I think you did a great job with it.
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I see that you find the pier to be your personal haven. I also find it to be a beautiful place to get away and escape from the world. The sea is a calming environment, and I often like to visit as well. I gotta give you props for the good colaboration of background, poem, and picture. Quite impressive. Come look me up sometime, later! -Justin-
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This is a lovely piece, it carried me there as if I was walking on the pier, lovely visual, very good structure, it was a great pleasure to read, I will follow your work you have talent,keep penning
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What usually childs do to piers. Baby wet water in sea. gulls aim by ribbon and stones.Many bliss of white foams as many child let their ways. Very touching then
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I have not been to a pier in quite some time now. This is a serene piece, taking me from the place of my cares. I don't ever think I need a photo to imagine the imagery you pack into your writes.. I could hear the waves slapping atop the skin of the sea, hear seagulls crying out to me, and catch a conversation or two drifting upon the wind. The beach is one place I think I'd most love to live on or near. Being a city slicker is not always what it's cracked up to be.
Many blessings,
Raven Aurora
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beautiful
Very nicely written. We use to go to a wharf like this to fish and trap crabs. You have brought back wonderful memories.
thank you.
Talia -
I like this. I must confess that it didn't completely blow me away (few things do), but it has a splendid resonance that I can certainly appreciate. Hmm...your descriptions are extensive, but I think if you condensed the imagery and ensure that each word complements its surroundings. Otherwise, this was very good. Keep on truckin' and all that jazz.
your cerulean dreamer,
michele -
What a perfect place to stop and forget about the hussle and bustle of the city life. I was there with you taking in the waves, the gulls, and the fishermen's conversations. Lovely write, so well articulated and the picture you painted for us was so vivid. I didn't even need the actual photo, although I really liked it. Superb job!
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