“About the Ocean” by Ginny Bitting
What I want to tell you is
that the ocean is not so scary
once you decide to go to sea.
If you stand on the beach
and only watch the waves crash on the shore
you will want to hide,
but if you gather the courage to leave
solid ground, you can ride them
out over the great chasm where
their violence will subside.
You will float toward a horizon
wide enough to swallow your fear
and bring a whale to your side.
She will roll
and look you in the eye.
Floating in twilight, you will find
the steady lullaby
only waves can provide
and your contented sleep will bring
an upwelling of dreams
and endless time to feast
on their deep truth.
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Ginny Bitting’s Artist Statement:
Ginny Bitting has always loved both music and the written word. A singer, sailor, mother, and retired teacher, she is currently thrashing out her memoir, Through the Cut, a story of navigation on the water and through the soul. She fell in love with her husband and the sea on a weekend sail to Long Island on his 20-foot boat. Over the next ten years, on bigger boats with their daughter Adrienne, and one cat or another, they sailed the East Coast, eventually spending a year voyaging through the Bahamas.
Her work has been published in This is College Writing and Confluencia in the Valley, an anthology of work from poets and writers connected with Naugatuck Valley Community College. She has participated in the Connecticut Writing Project and taught in Stonington Public Schools for 34 years. Ginny lives, writes and sails in eastern Connecticut.
