Jana Remy
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Jana Remy

  • Writing
    • Disability
    • Making History
    • Digital Humanities
      • dayofDH
    • Canoeing
    • Creative Nonfiction & Essays
    • Feminism
    • Bibliographies
      • Pacific Worlds Bibliography
    • Social Media
      • Mentions/Links
  • Scholarship
    • Awards/Fellowships
    • Conferences & Invited Talks
    • Collaboration
    • Workshops
    • Conference Planning
    • Technical Skills
  • Teaching
    • Blogposts About Teaching
I am too long away from water…
deep thoughts

I am too long away from water…

written by Jana August 30, 2011

I didn’t see an ocean until I was 14 years old.  I didn’t take a dip in the ocean until I was 35.  And I didn’t begin to learn its currents until three years ago.  But now….I can hardly go more than a few days without connecting with the ocean again–I am literally hungry for it.  Like this weekend, when I felt such a restlessness until I was out bobbing in the surf (again).

I’m beginning to wonder what will happen when I eventually move from this place. I know I won’t live in SoCal forever–so will I find some other love to replace that of the sea?

Exiled (an excerpt)

Searching my heart for its true sorrow,
This is the thing I find to be:
That I am weary of words and people,
Sick on the city, wanting the sea;

Wanting the sticky, salty sweetness
Of the strong wind and shattered spray;
Wanting the loud sound and the soft sound
Of the big surf that breaks all day…

If I could see the weedy museels
Crusting the wrecked and rotting hulls,
Hear once again the hungry crying
Overhead, of the wheeling gulls…

I should be happy, that am happy
Never at all since I came here
I am too long away from water.
I have a need of water near.

~Edna St. Vincent Millay

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Jana

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2 comments

alisonwonderland August 30, 2011 - 7:43 pm

What a beautiful poem!

I’ve been in Utah for 18 years now, and I have to make a pilgrimage to the ocean periodically when I start feeling “I am too long away from water.”

Reply
janaremy August 30, 2011 - 9:06 pm

Alison:
Some day I hope that we can meet and share some ocean time together… :)

Reply

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About Me

About Me

Hi there friend, and welcome to my blog. I started writing on the internet two decades ago. Since then I've started and finished a PhD program, left the Mormon church and became a Quaker, got divorced, remarried, found full-time work in academia, took up rock climbing and outrigger canoeing, and traveled across the globe (China! Belgium! Italy! Chicago! Montana! Portland! Gettysburg! and oh-so-many points in-between). This blog is eclectic and random--it has poetry and cooking and books. And cats. And flowers. And the ocean (my ocean). But in that sense it's a good reflection of me and my wide-ranging, far-reaching, magpie curiosity.

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