It was some bullshit idea Mom read in a magazine, but we went willingly, removing our boots and wool socks to walk barefoot on cold sand. I meant to collect shells and sea glass, only that day, there were jellyfish clear and gelatinous, washed up on the shore like blisters swollen on wounded skin, yet they also had that peculiar beauty of objects too holy to touch.
***
Written for Shay’s Word Garden Word List, EM-RWP, and MVB-Prompt
Jewish Young Professional 
I love it. Jelly fish are weird, mysterious and really beautiful in water. Cold beach sand on bare feet. No thank you.
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The jellyfish were weird and mysterious, and also really beautiful. It gave me the heebie-jeebies seeing them that close on the shore, but it was also really cool.
It wasn’t a bitterly cold day, so that walking on the cold sand end of December wasn’t so uncomfortable. But putting socks and shoes back on over sandy feet was kind of gross. Do you dislike beaches generally, or just when it isn’t beach season?
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I’m not a beach boy. I’m a desert boy. We have plenty of sand out here, ancient beaches, actually, but no water these days..
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I remember there was one summer, a long time ago, where I live when the waters were full of clear little jellyfish like that. People were freaked out and thought it was some harbinger of something. Or that they’d be electrocuted to death.
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Yeah, it was those little clear ones. It was so weird because I hadn’t seen anything like that before, and the jellyfish look weirdly beautiful. At the same time, it gave me the heebie-jeebies.
It does make you wonder what a sudden abundance of little jellyfish are a harbinger of. I could see this being a good short story.
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The short story would need to take place in one of those dysfunctional small towns with messed-up superstitions. Like that town in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. Then they have to make sense of a jellyfish plague.
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I have been to the beach only a handful of times, and I have never encountered a jellyfish. I would love to see one in person. I guess you could say it is on my bucket list of beach activities. I think they are beautiful, just like this piece *smiles*.
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They were beautiful, but it was also kind of weird, and uncomfortable having to tiptoe around them instead of walking carefree barefoot on the beach. Or at least as carefree as one walks barefoot on a beach in December.
Thank you, and thanks for providing some of the inspiration 🙂
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I am happy to inspire! *smiles*
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On trips to the Gulf Coast, I’ve seen jellyfish washed up on the shore many times. I don’t know how long they can live out of water, but know better than to pick one up and put it back in the water. I always hope the ride comes and sweeps them away before death does.
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I wondered about that too. I wasn’t going to pick them up and put them back in the water, but I worried for those little jellyfish
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A kind heart…🙂
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what was her idea? just to walk barefoot on cold sand?
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To go for a walk on the beach on New Year’s Eve day.
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ah. because if was New Year’s Eve? or just because it was fun to go for a walk on the beach in the cold?
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Because it was New Year’s Eve. Like a magazine article or something suggested taking a walk on the beach as a rejuvenating to do for the new year.
I remember it was like 40-50℉. Not warm, but not bitterly frigid.
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Also, this might not have taken place in 2005. I don’t remember what year this was. I feel like women’s magazines of the late 90s/early 00s were running articles like this. Then again, my mom loved saving old magazines and re-reading them, so maybe it was 2005.
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Lovely idea …here in Worthing UK, we have a year- end ‘scream at the sea’ ritual. Go down, yell whatever you like into the sea, feel better, go home.
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That is so interesting! I love the idea of going and yelling whatever you want into the sea. Probably better for relationships than yelling at your loved ones.
For Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, there’s a tradition to take pieces of bread representing your sins and throw them into a body of moving water, symbolizing casting out your sins.
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Beautiful. New traditions can be very helpful for people who’ve let go of the old ones. And the old traditions hold great wisdom and power.
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This verse makes me long for a beach…anywhere.
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Not too many beaches in Nebraska, I suppose😉
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Not on the ocean, for sure.
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Hey, fantastic. Beautifully balanced, ending with a perfect line: “they also had that peculiar beauty
of objects too holy to touch.” Terrific.
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Thank you! It took me some time to figure out that ending, and I’m glad I did and that it is well-received. Thanks!
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Walking on a beach with loved ones on New Year’s Eve can be a fun, and warm thing. 🙂
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Well, I’m not so sure I’d characterize it as “warm” because it was only 40-50℉. But it was an interesting experience to walk along the beach with my family on the morning of New Year’s eve.
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I have had that exact experience. Mesmerizing beauty once I got over the Yuch of it all.
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Exactly. The jellyfish were also really cool looking, and yes, mesmerizing. But a little weird and disconcerting having to tip toe around them.
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Jellies are very creepy. The first time I swam in the ocean, it was full of jellies (in the Philippines). They look like pearl onions.
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Interesting. I find it beautiful to watch the jellyfish swimming in the water, but it would be really creepy and weird to swim with them.
Thank you for the word list prompt inspiration!
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New one (Langston Hghes) is up now. Come join us!
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I can’t comment on your blog because I don’t want to comment under my gmail, but I LOVE your “The Landlord of the Moon” poem inspired by your Langston Hughes list. Love this personification and so many fantastic lines! I’ll check this out later.
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Encouraged by JYP’s ebullient recommendation, below, I went hunting and found it (‘The Landlord of the Moon‘, I mean). What an intriguing piece. Kudos, Shay! (If blogspot and WordPress played nicer together I’d follow your blog on the strength of that one poem; but, sadly, I can’t. And I’d have bought a copy of ‘Gypsy Bird Cage: poems’, even though it’s on ‘nozama’ but I’m a tree-hugger and only buy eBooks these days. I did click the ‘want to read on Kindle’ button.)
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Shay’s poetry is awesome! The great Blogspot-Wordpress feud is annoying.
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It seems to me that as time goes on, ‘progress’ manifests as ever-increasing inconsistency and incompatabilities between systems 😦
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I agree, it is vexing that it is so hard to cross formats. I do check replies though.
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great to meet you and your work.
Thanks for the follow! I’m now following you as well. See you around and happy New Year🙏🌷
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Thank you! Happy new year!
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You’re welcome and thanks same to you!🙌🥳❤️
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I love the line, like objects too holy to touch. At the same time, there is something compelling about bodies of water–like, what primordial archetype is it tapping into? New Years eve or not, I think it’s good to “touch base” occasionally, with the source.
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Thanks – took me a while to land on that ending, but it’s one of my favorites now.
Yeah, it had sounded like a cheesy idea at first. Who goes to the beach in December/January (I won’t post locations, but let’s just say this wasn’t somewhere warm like Hawaii or something). But it actually wound up being an interesting experience for the morning of NYE.
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I love the imagery. I can see the speaker walking, perhaps shivering a bit, head shaking at the seemingly ludicrous idea… and then, in awe of the jellyfish, bejeweling the beach like a pretty wound.
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Yes, that is exactly what it was like! Bejeweling the beach like a pretty wound. The jellyfish had that somewhat mesmerizing quality of a bruise, where you know rationally that poking at it is a stupid idea because it is going to hurt, but at the same time, it’s so beautiful that you kinda want to touch. (I didn’t touch the jellyfish though). Thank you for stopping by and sharing.
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I’m glad you didn’t touch it. 😀
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short and supple; love that line ‘peculiar beauty of objects too holy to touch’
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My favorite line too. Thanks!
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For my munny ‘washed up on the shore like blisters swollen on wounded skin’ is better 😛
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I really enjoyed writing that line too! Kinda awesome when it’s hard to pick a favorite. I’m glad it resonated
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Amazing imagery. Too holy to touch… and blisters on skin. Beautiful writing on this weird creature.
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Thank you! When I saw your poem that you paired with the jellyfish image, I immediately thought of this one
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So nice of you! Thank you!!
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[…] myself by writing in the first place by responding to prompts on my anonymous non-poetry blog that is so good that I’m kinda mad at myself for posting it. Image by Mohamed Hassan from […]
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