Just received word that my poem “Beach Vacation” was accepted for the 2020 Wisconsin Poets Calendar.
I love the Poets Calendar. It’s a gathering of voices from all over the state and every year I look forward to reading poems by poets I’ve gotten to know. The editors try to match each poem to a season while also working around a theme. This theme is Going Places.
I wrote “Beach Vacation” while visiting my in-laws’ cottage shortly after my father-in-law’s funeral. At the time, I was not aware that the poem was influenced at all by his death. I simply thought that I was describing what it was like to walk on the beach in a stiff wind. Later, I saw otherwise. Poetry sometimes reveals the thoughts we have beneath the surface. That’s one of its blessings.