Redondo Beach

Got some bad new the other day---

Redondo Beach

I went to the beach today

The sun baptized my body

Wind baptized my soul

The roar of the ocean soothed my troubled mind

The thunder of the giant aquatic finger tips

Slamming into the Redondo sand

The mixing of the water and sand

Forces me to think about Jay

My friend

My brother in Christ

He called me two days ago

Past a night

Told me he had the HIV

Shocked

We talked

Then prayed

Like many times before

Hungry

Homeless

Angry

Poor

Since being out west

I have been touched by life

In the garden state I only knew:

Grilled chicken

Soft Ice cream

And the five O’clock new

 

I grit my teeth for Jay

He’s lived such a f*****g hard life!

I have lived such a f*****g hard life!

I slowly anger toward God

But remember he did nothing

Yet he is Everything.

The devil has a megaphone

planted in my right ear.

And for all those who said it could be worst

I wish a slowly painful day

 

A volleyball game snaps me to reality

Breaks me from my funk

I jump into the ocean

And rinse the self pity from

My carcass

And battle the waves

As I wonder

How many people

Pissed in this water?

Reviews

[razormuse]

Amazingly complex write. Emotions are so raw & real I could feel your pain, anger then ultimately humor albeit dark "How many people Pissed in this water?" I don't like to assume all Poems are personal accounts, sometimes I write about events that never happened but yet have touched me. I really liked this.

[dan nacario]

amazing contrast between the beautiful setting and the thoughts of the speaker in the poem..the last three lines are great..

[DRD]

Well not quite sure what to make of that but it hits the nail on the head about how cruel life can be. Maybe If everyone starts to realize this the cruelty will lessen and the world will right itself once more.

[Alicia Schroeder]

A great look at how life takes people to differant places in life, someone you knew ten years ago, could be someone totally differant today.. The ending just gave me a chuckle..lmao.. Great peice and wonderful read :)

[N.Sevilla]

I like how the speaker is at the beach, which is supposed to be a place of peace, yet what he thinks about is the terrible things that are happening. Love the last line. Also, I would like to say that because I've been to Redondo Beach several times, it only seems to serve a greater purpose for the poem than if you used another beach such as Manhattan, simply because Redondo seems to have more of a fun and lively outlook as compared to other beaches. (Meaning the arcade and such)

[Grace Catherine C.]

Angry, powerful, beautifully descriptive and the last line is pure genius. Amazing work here.

[Coyote Poetry]

I understand this poem. I had a bad year with sickness and death. Hard to overlook the bad things and go forward. Good to escape to the ocean and try to forget for a time. Thank you for sharing the excellent poem and thoughts.
Coyote

[Layla J Omorose]

I felt the anger in this poem rise continually through the poem. I can't imagine how hard that was. But the loved the last line. It fit perfectly within the poem. Great job

[Lily Mae]

The balance of all emotions are packed inside this write.. I felt as if I were with you in your head and heart with the feelings and thoughts going back and forth.. So write..and to many piss in the water ;) x

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

It reds perfectly, dwelling never to long on those images but leaves a lasting thought!

[Michael of Gilead]

I know these thoughts would be almost exactly the same to me when confronted by such news....course I tend to worry about sharks and not who pee'd ;)