Between You, Me, the Fence Post and the Sea

This poem was written in response to the Rattle® Poetry Ekphrastic Challenge for June 2024 and was ultimately not selected. You can find more information here.

https://www.rattle.com/ekphrastic/

Between You, Me, the Fence Post, and the Sea

I met you

As your family began vacationing there each year

The summer seaside cottages that my grandparents owned

Which my mother managed rentals for

The ocean waves lapping at our bare feet

Running free over sand dunes

We made quick friends, you and I

-

Buried by the fence post, stuffed in an old canning jar

Hand-written maps that led to our secret fort

We built from packed wet sand and dug up rocks

Climbing on a pile of driftwood, pretending to be pirates

Adventures of childhood lived between

You, me, the fence post, and the sea

-

Shoving me into the water off the old boat dock

You dared me to try to come and get you

That night our clothes tossed over the fence post as we

Snuck out the back patio doors to skinny dip

I blushed the first time I stood naked in front of a boy

The way he looked at me in the moonlight

Teenage secrets kept between

You, me, the fence post, and the sea

-

You had just gotten your driver’s license

Parking your father’s 4x4 on the beach

Wheels sinking in the sand while we, in the back seat

Summoned storms in each other’s eyes

Our skin kissed by lips, sweat, and salty air

Drifting in from the ocean’s spray

Young love’s passion burning between

You, me, the fence post, and the sea

-

That summer after graduation

I told you I was pregnant

You said your parents were sending you off to college

A fresh start on the other coast

Crying as I hid under the life guard station

Composing you letters that went unanswered

How painful the heartbreak held between

You, me, the fence post, and the sea

-

In all those years since then

You never came back to those seaside cottages

That now my mother owns and I manage rentals for

My grandparents sit in their rocking chairs

Watching my daughter mold wet sand into castles

She plays princess, while our dog is the dragon

There are now only memories shared between

You, me, the fence post, and the sea

Submitted under MRB