Death took a walk with me. A haunted shore. Shell shards. Upended trees.
I teetered on the earth’s rim. Held my love’s hand. Bit windblown hair and embraced thundering water.
Life and Death merged on a strip of sand. Ragged tree stumps. Waterlogged pools. Sea creatures wrapped their lips around what remained.
We can find a way to thrive.
In desolation.
Until we become grains of sand. A zephyr of dust. Mermaid foam kissing the face of a future soul who follows our path.
When we wander through places, do they invade our spirit? Make us remember them? Is that what haunting means?
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To see pictures from Hunting Island State Park, click here: Andra Watkins Tumblr
51 Comments
yes, i think it is what it means –
I hope you had a good weekend, Beth.
I like this?
It’s okay not to like it, Rajiv. I’m not sure how I feel about it.
These places do invade our spirit, but I would like to believe in a way that isn’t haunted. Otherwise, would we want to go back? Does haunting lure us back?
I’ve often wondered why I feel drawn to Hunting Island. I’m not really a beach person, but I could return to HI again and again.
Ah, but there is so much life amongst that death.
Must depend on what our soul chooses to see.
Yes – like a haunting melody – it can invade our spirit in both good and not so good ways.
It ended up being a very good day, Penny. Loved your garden club image.
Have I told you lately that I love your writing? Often times I come here and you’re blogging (and I think you know what I mean) but once in a while, you’re writing, and I love it when you do…. just holds me over until I can read more.
I guess that’s what it means when people tell me my writing here isn’t very good. I try to explain the difference between blogging to engage with an audience and writing to show I can, but they’ve already moved on.
People tell you that? And do you punch them, or is that MTM’s job?
There are so many different kinds of writing, and a good writer should be able to do as many different types as possible. I think you’re a good writer.
People who are trying to sell me something always say it. They love to try to play into writerly insecurities…..not that I can’t improve. I can always improve. But I’m sick of the people who have a vested interest in telling me they can help me sell more books, when really it’s all about them making more money.
I’m not there yet. Sounds nightmarish — and I’d be angry, too.
I’m just having a bad morning. Or I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Or something. 🙂
Mermaid form…what beautiful words you used to see the hope in our future at the water’s edge.
(This touched me…deep down)
I’ve been haunted by mermaid foam since that childhood cartoon, where dead mermaids become foam upon the sea.
It’s disturbing and comforting all at once. Mermaid form. I’ll have to think on it.
I clearly remember the cartoon……..mermaids would dive into the waves and die and become foam on the waves. It was such a vivid visual.
I don’t remember it, but I love the thought of it. That they lived on, they came and went and were still “there”.
The pattern of the clouds matched the pattern on the sand. A weird parallel. Beautiful photos!
I didn’t notice that. You’re right, Linda.
Yes!! I agree with Bikerchick, too. There are numerous places that will haunt me to my grave.
Your photos are so compelling, I can almost smell the air.
It was really muggy that day. The air was wet. 🙂
Lovely writing. Hunting Island is a glimpse of what our coast looked like many years ago. The primitive beauty is what draws us again and again to its shore. You need to plan a mountain trip soon – the leaves are beginning to change!
I’m coming to the mountains the weekend before Thanksgiving for a Rotary thing. I’ll be sure to let you know when I can sneak away for a bit.
A very good question: “Is that what haunting means?” I’m not sure we can ever know, but suspecting certainly opens the door for imagination. Very nice.
It’s weird how imagination works sometimes.
Yeah. Another question might be: what is imagination, really? Imaginings can have emotions attached to them. When they do, it makes them real. What’s that about?
Mermaid foam is a new one to me but now I’ll think of it each time I step on a beach…
I’ve got to go back and find that cartoon now………it was pre-The Little Mermaid. I can’t recall where I saw it as a little girl………
If you find it let me know. I’ve got three little nieces who love mermaid stories. 🙂
Is it not possible that what you saw was a rendering from some older book of fairy tales….as written? The Little Mermaid could have caused worry to a particularly sensitive or impressionable child: http://www.pagepulp.com/1597/childhood-trauma-and-the-little-mermaid/ Actually, a lot of fairy tales were pretty grim — no pun intended. 🙂
Only the very special places invade my spirit. And I embrace it!
I think it’s a great thing to embrace. Hope you’re barreling through the final house sale details.
Ethereal, Andra. I think I live for moments like this. Your Tumblr photos are gorgeous!
I wish I could recapture that ethereal mood today. Ha. I draw inspiration from the many gorgeous pictures you take, Debra. I’m so glad you’re online. 🙂
I love, love, love this. Thank you Andra. Beautiful.
Thanks, Lori. Hope you’re having a lovely Monday.
Yup. It means haunted. Yessir. *sound of feet running away*
Andra, have you and MTM been to Capers Island? There, you can feel the haunted even closer to home. I blogged about Capers awhile ago…but my words didn’t match the haunting beauty
We haven’t been to Capers, Stacey. As long as I’ve lived here, it pains me to type that answer. 🙂 If you have a link to your post, I’d love to see it.
And it pains me to say that we still haven’t made it to the boneyard beach at Bulls Island. Supposedly the shelling is best there in October. Apparently I need to whip out my “Charleston bucket list” again to see what else I’ve missed! Jekyll Island also have a great driftwood beach, too, and it doesn’t require a ferry or a tour. Here’s the link to Capers Island. http://theanonymousblonde.com/2014/05/21/when-nature-becomes-art/
I think some places hold ‘memories’ of past times and events, and try to play them back to us in whatever way they can, Andra. I’d love to be able to see what those places have seen… what secrets they hold. Haunting may be a strong word to use, but it’s quite close…
I don’t know how else to describe it. An energy? A charge in the air? Words I can barely hear and things I can barely see, though nothing is there? That’s all haunted to me. 🙂
It is! Like I say, it’s very close. Like an intuitive knowledge of someone’s name who you’ve never met before – I’ve experienced that a couple of times – or an urge to do something or go somewhere which turns out to be really beneficial. Knowledge but not knowing how you know it! If it isn’t haunted, it’s spooky all the same! 😀
Oh yes. A lifetime of haunting. Places that occupy my DNA and crowd the memory banks. Oh yes. Haunted, indeed.
I *THOUGHT* that looked like Hunting Island!
Loved the photos you posted on Tumblr. I’m headed to the beach next week, I’ll be sure to look for some Mermaid foam.
I think that’s exactly what it means, when a spirit or memory or whatever hangs around with us.
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