know that sea is strong like God’s hand and that the sea holds a wide, deep death
Adapted from the poem, Sea Charm, by Langston Hughes, published in The Weary Blues (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1926).
The sea’s own children Do not understand. They know But that the sea is strong Like God’s hand. They know But that sea wind is sweet Like God’s breath, And that the sea holds A wide, deep death.
foggy day on Folly Beach, Hilton Head Island, SC – 3/8/2026
Again I am astounded at the level of cheek needed to ‘adapt’ the poetry of Mr. Hughes or Mr. Sandburg for my own purposes.
leaning against each other like drunken brothers at a funeral
Adapted from the poem, Even Numbers by Carl Sandburg as published in The People, Yes in The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg by Carl Sandburg (Harcourt, Brace and Company: New York, 1950).
1
A HOUSE like a man all lean and coughing, a man with his two hands in the air at a cry,
“Hands up“
A house like a woman shrunken and stoop-shouldered, shrunken and done with dishes and dances
These two houses I saw going uphill in Cincinnati
2
Two houses leaning against each other like drunken brothers at a funeral,
Two houses facing each other like two blind wrestlers hunting a hold on each other.
These four scrawny houses I saw on a dead level cinder patch in Scranton, Pennsylvania
3
And by the light of a white moon m Waukesha, Wisconsin, I saw a lattice work in lilac time white-mist lavender a sweet moonlit lavender
Sorry but I just couldn’t resist.
Hey Little Brother!
Still in the drivers seat!
For those who know, they know,
For those who don’t know, that’s my little brother Pete watching me handle the reigns sitting in the drivers seat ( at the Dutch Village in Holland, Michigan).
I don’t have glasses yet and it looks like I still have my front teeth so this could have been the summer of 1968.
1969 was a rough year on my face.
I got glasses.
On my 9th birthday, I got hit in the face with a surf board that gashed my cheek open.
On Thanksgiving Day, running from my brother Timmy, I slipped and fell on the basement floor and chipped my left front tooth in half.
Still wear glasses.
Still have the scar.
One of grand daughters just lost her front teeth and asked her Mom if she could get a gold tooth like Pappa.
BTW, I should mention that this college basketball season, Michigan went undefeated on the road in the Big 10, something that hasn’t happened since 1976.
They tied the record of most regular season wins by a Big 10 team.
And in the process, the swept the home and away series with that team in East Lansing.
wave lasts moments but underneath another one waiting to be born
Hilton Head Island, 3/5/2026
Adapted from the poem Waves by Jim Harrison in the collection, Saving Daylight as published in the Complete Poems of Jim Harrison (Copper Canyon Press: Port Townsend, WA 2021).
WAVES
A wave lasts only moments but underneath another one is always waiting to be born. This isn’t the Tao of people but of waves. As a student of people, waves, the Tao, I’m free to let you know that waves and people tell the same story of how blood and water were born, that our bodies are full of creeks and rivers flowing in circles, that we are kin of the waves and the nearly undetectable ocean currents, that the moon pleads innocence of its tidal power, its wayward control of our dreams, the way the moon tugs at our skulls and loins, the way the tides make their tortuous love to the land. We’re surely creatures with unknown gods.
wilderness of waves dip dive rise roll hide hidden on the sea, day, night
The Sea is a wilderness of waves, A desert of water. We dip and dive, Rise and roll, Hide and are hidden On the sea. Day, night, Night, day, The sea is a desert of waves, A wilderness of water.
Long Trip by Langston Hughes as published in Sail Away: Sea Poems by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Ashley Bryan (Atheneum: New York, 2015)
