Memories On An Outgoing Tide

Writers are early on both instructed and burdened with advice to "write about what you know," yet most things worth knowing usually take a lifetime and beyond to fully understand. So when do you know enough about that person, place or thing that you can begin seriously writing about them? While there will always be more to learn, that should not prevent sharing what you have learned. For me, at age 80, when I put pencil to paper, I wanted to see if I knew enough about the subject of each poem so that when examining my words, I had captured a meaningful essence worth sharing My poems reflect highly personal experiences like living on an island dune at the ocean's edge and spending countless hours fly fishing in both salt and freshwater. They also include tributes from my rewarding friendships with legendary fishing guide, Patrick Roberts, and stalwart Bahamian man for all seasons, Frederick Neely a.k.a Fine Threads. My other topics are things most people have experienced, at least to a point of appreciating my depictions of each subject's attributes. I refer to the commonality of experience with my poems extolling ocean sunrises, the magic of the moon, the joy of swaying in a hammock, the splendor of seaside cottages, the adventures of rivers, the mystique of mountains and the allure of nature. Why the title of this book? The tide is an apt metaphor for not only time, but also life itself. It does not stop moving for anything or anyone. That reality is why Timeless Tides and Tidal Truths is my favorite poem in this work. As someone who has fished coastal waters for five decades, I learned that it is the outgoing tide that can be the most dangerous. It is the tide for which you need to make ongoing calculations and assessments of where you are at, where you are going, and where you should be. Or, in other words, a lot like life itself. We never know when it will be the last time we visit a cherished friend or are able to enjoy one of our favorite places on the planet, whether it is a garden, a river walk, an ocean beach, or a winding woodland trail. It is always prudent to embrace warmly and enjoy such places with that truism in mind. It can add a greater depth of appreciation to even the most rewarding venue. As they say, "Fall in love with as many places as you can." Throughout my legal career, I wrote thousands of letters, hundreds of legal briefs and crafted many agreements of substantial consequence. But there has been no more daunting writing task for me than poetically capturing the essence of the subjects in this work. I found it intimidating because someone who does that expertly is considered a poet. Throughout history, the label "poet" is associated with the recognizable names of accomplished writers. While I will never be eligible for that list, I did not want it to stop me from memorializing my thoughts on the subjects I portray in this book. At some point in my ever-aging body and mind, they will be my only memory of these subjects. Without this undertaking, I would surely lose all recall to share my experience and feelings for matters dear to me. Lastly, this work is meant to be a communicative personal journal of thoughts and experiences, along with hopefully sharing some gained insight and earned wisdom on its subjects. Those subjects include people, places and things with whom I have made long and deep connections. They have garnered my admiration and stirred my inspiration. I have tried to paint both my knowledge and my emotions about them with the color of my words.