Paddler’s Poems

Inspired through their new network of friends and colleagues, paddlers from Upstream Alliance’s June Paddling Expedition wrote poems about their memorable journey. Thank you these incredible poets for allowing us to share their exquisite works of art.

Red Boat

Red Boat

Rode hard and put away wet

Now dry in the shed

Great memories that will not fade

Like the grains of sand I can’t get out of my tent

~Peyton Robertson~

Being Out There

It was on the rising tide of friendship – eyes

glad to see you, earnest smiles,

and hardy hugs – that lifted all hearts

and kayaks parting the great green

sea of the Chesapeake,

Virginia’s Eastern Shore

to starboard.

~

It was those three days on and off

the water – progging uninhabited beaches

for history’s remains, campfire

dinners of rockfish with asparagus,

and sunsets aflame – that

tucked us in at night

under a blanket of stars.

~

It was just being out there – just you

and one-paddle-stroke

after-the-other, senses flushed clean

in the sea salt air, and wounds

healed that never asked

for fixing – out,

where time held eternity.

~John Hutchinson~

So much depends

upon the shore

red kayaks glazed with dew,

beyond a white egret

struts the hunt.

~

The dogfish shark circles

inside the pound net.

Blue crabs cling to mesh

below the strangled gull.

~

Siblings kneel in sand

before the red cooler,

cracking dewy oysters,

the wise shark teaches how.

~

Hunting for circling gulls

finds a blood riot below.

Behold the kayaking egret flock

grows seaside wild together.

~Genevieve Leet~