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(.....01july13) Seal Beach Pier
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User Rating: |
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10.0
/10
(2
votes)
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1. The Public Pier
Here beyond the screaming beach,
the volleyball and surfers,
the fishers try
to pull something
alive from the veiled
depths, and some succeed.
Fearless pre-teens
leap off the railing,
then bob like seals
amid the light beams
dancing on the green surface.
Ruby’s Diner, at the far end,
half a mile toward Catalina,
gets $8 a cheeseburger.
and the trash boat
gurgling away from its dock
seems to signify that some,
at least, have taken that bait.
We’re neither land nor sea here,
neither fish nor fowl,
though both fish and fowl
are all around us
out on this
island in the sky,
this bridge
to nowhere
and everywhere
2. The Poets’ Pier
The poets line the pier,
pens dangling out
over the green depths.
Poker-faced, they stand
or sit on benches.
Every now and then
a line tugs,
a pen dips,
a poet
pulls something up
and over the rail.
Shining, exotic,
the poem flops on the deck.
The poet smiles,
and the others,
not so fortunate
yet today,
keep their watch
out toward the sea.
Max Reif
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Comments about this poem ((.....01july13) Seal Beach Pier
by
Max Reif
) |
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Click here to write your
comments about this poem ((.....01july13) Seal Beach Pier by
Max Reif
)
 |
Alison Cassidy
(7/19/2007 6:51:00 PM) |
This is a clever duet of a poem, dancing effortless between the descriptive self and the imaginative one. And giving the reader lots more besides.
We’re neither land nor sea here,
neither fish nor fowl,
though both fish and fowl
are all around us
out on this
island in the sky,
this bridge
to nowhere
and everywhere
These lines combine the two - beautifully. love, Allie xxxx
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Ivan Donn Carswell
(7/18/2007 11:46:00 PM) |
Max, when you come in from the cold you connect intimately with places you write so effectively about. I haven't been there except in my mind but I know the pier, the anglers and the poseur poets. They should all rug themselves with a Max Reif shawl and trawl the depths! Great poem. Rgds, Ivan
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Joseph Daly
(7/14/2007 10:07:00 AM) |
This is beautiful Max. There is a timeless poetics about this poem; it has a Romantic feel to it but suggests a strong modernity.
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Scarlett Treat
(7/13/2007 3:06:00 PM) |
Max, I saw a circle in this poem...$8 cheeseburgers being fed to the fish, whom the fishermen caught, thereby giving the poets something to write ABOUT! How lovely...are we all, then, going to become grist for the mill? I would like to think that someday, I might inspire someone....to write a poem about me! !
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