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Stream of Consciousness
Challenge Ended
When you stand in front of the ocean, what do you think of?
Ended June 13, 2016 • 11 Entries • Created by Krystalize
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When you stand in front of the ocean, what do you think of?
Cover image for post Ebb and Flow, by sandflea68
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sandflea68 in Stream of Consciousness

Ebb and Flow

My heart is wound

on seaweed spool

a window to my ocean

as I dwell within

tumbling water,

beached driftwood

where my skeletons

are buried in the deep.

I gaze at the cobalt line

on yonder horizon

yearning to capture it

as it shivers.

I listen to the soft

lapping lullaby of sea.

Winds exhale while

I inhale their scent.

Ocean choir melody

cradles me

as it ebbs and flows

while I float above

like a bird gliding,

soaring in life’s currents.

Watching the iridescent

regrets of the sun

as it reaches warm fingers

of light

tied up in ribbons.

Citron cloak rises

from the tides

bringing moody light

as drops of water

form latte foam.

I build sandcastle dreams

as the ocean skin

nuzzles dancing waves.

Neon charisma

burnishes gold medal sun.

Turquoise tears

call with whispered refrain.

I embrace the moment

as the wind sighs

my name mournfully

while the sea

bathes me in its arms

calling me home.

Challenge
When you stand in front of the ocean, what do you think of?
Profile avatar image for 19syllables
19syllables in Stream of Consciousness

Sea Haiku

Shell cupped ear listens

To tide's timeless shift and pull.

In flux, yet the same. 

Challenge
When you stand in front of the ocean, what do you think of?
Cover image for post Peaceful Transition, by Erin
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Erin in Stream of Consciousness

Peaceful Transition

Flip side of the fire... Just as mesmerizing. Brings a meditative state and speaks soothing words to an aching soul.

Words like, "come to me", echo on the breeze. Visions of walking into and beyond the white crests don't evade. Giving life over without much fuss or worry because the crash and chill numb and ease.

Challenge
When you stand in front of the ocean, what do you think of?
Cover image for post Repast, by nfaulk6
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nfaulk6 in Stream of Consciousness

Repast

Reflecting as I observe the ocean,

How horror films elicit emotion.

A shark attack,

His afternoon snack,

And the resulting frenzied commotion.

Challenge
When you stand in front of the ocean, what do you think of?
Profile avatar image for InsanelyInLove
InsanelyInLove in Stream of Consciousness

Peace and serenity

My mind expands outward;

Through time and space until I'm

At the very beginning of it all

Life

And I begin to wonder if our lives matter

Or to what purpose we serve

The waves crashing onto one another

Frightens me, but comforts too.

I stare blankly towards the horizon

As I listen intently at the sweet symphony that surrounds me

And I am at one with the universe and all that call it home

Challenge
When you stand in front of the ocean, what do you think of?
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madnauseam
Chapter 7 of 22
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Madeline

The Last Time I Saw the Ocean And Then I Never Went Back to Work Again.

I remember the last time I saw the ocean, it was the first week in February of this year in Naples, Florida.  My husband's family was involved in a complicated legal battle with a large bank, the details of which I was not then and am not now familiar, nor interested. Work had been extra shitty, I had a new boss who was becoming increasingly passive-agressively hostile toward me, which is my least favorite quality in a boss (though one I've for whatever reason encountered numerous times).  I decided that I would take family leave under FMLA and stay the week with my husband and his family at the beach condo while the trial was going on so as to have a chance to get away from Chicago, and mostly from work, and clear my head a bit.

I remember arriving at the condo around 11pm, the air had that super "dewey sweet"quality you always hear people reference but (at least where I come from) never experience aside from maybe one time at  camp when you were a kid (though that memory may well be fabricated, I don't really know) or possibly a couple times during college after partying way too hard and walking home as the sun rises (though in those memories that smell brought on dread, self loathing, and nausea, so that's probably not relevant I guess).  But the air was dewey sweet, and in a good way, like in a way where you still have a night to sleep and and a day of sun and ocean and relaxing ahead, so it's all good.  That's how it smelled.

It was dark out I didn't care, I could hear the ocean and I could see the ocean and I could see the sand and I wanted to sit in all of it, so I ran through the house, flipping my shoes off and shedding my winter coat on the way, out the back door and onto the beach.  

It was calm.  It was rhythmic.  It was quiet.  And it was big.  I shed my socks (which I never found) and rolled up my pants and went in, it was warm.  The gulf water is always warm, around this time it was about 72 degrees.  I stood there for a while.  I looked at the moon.   I thought about my dad.  I tried not to think about work but flashes of intermittent worry crept in every now and again - I tried my best to dismiss them, and breathe.

Breathe.  Breathe.  Breathe.  OH HOLY SHIT WHEN MARIE SAID THAT SHE DIDN'T CARE IF I TOOK THIS WEEK OF IS THAT BECAUSE SHE KNOWS SHE'S GOING TO FIRE ME WHEN I GET BACK ANYWAY?  Breathe.  Breathe.  Breathe.  Dad. Wonder how the Maya Angelou doc is coming.  I love Dad.  Dad'd tell me that work isn't worth stressing over, everything is as it should be, and we must except that.  Except that, and breathe.  Breathe.  Breathe.  ...But not that quickly. No, not that quickly, it's fine. OH SHIT NO IT'S NOT I TOTALLY FORGOT TO ATTACH A THIRD EXAMPLE IMAGE TO THAT DOCUMENT GOD DAMNIT THERE'S ONLY TWO TWO ISN'T ENOUGH THERE NEEDED TO BE THREE MOTHERFUCKING GOD DAMNIT I'M SUCH AN IDIOT.  ...Breathe.  Breathe.  Breathe.

It's nice out here.

Challenge
When you stand in front of the ocean, what do you think of?
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midnight_ in Stream of Consciousness

Sea

Standing in front of the ocean, I see distance. The prospect of foreign lands fills my field of view. I can't see it, but I know it is there, just beyond my eyesight. There is a gap between these places and my own. It is one filled with uncertainty and danger. However, forging onwards, one may reach a different world within our own.

Challenge
When you stand in front of the ocean, what do you think of?
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_A_ in Stream of Consciousness

I gaze at the sea

its neverending roar

the monotonous waves

even its storms are the same

wind 

rain

water

God I can't wait to leave

never come back

escape the inescapable monotony.

Challenge
When you stand in front of the ocean, what do you think of?
Cover image for post Depths, by TheresaBrekan
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TheresaBrekan in Stream of Consciousness

Depths

Salty sea spray mists my face and I am mesmerized by the rhythmic hiss splash crash generated from somewhere deep beneath my line of sight where worlds exist in schools and pairs below the waves that push with might.

Challenge
When you stand in front of the ocean, what do you think of?
MKodra in Stream of Consciousness

Uncertainty

Standing barefoot in the sand on some beach along the coast, staring out into the seemingly never-ending water. It's unsettling to think about how much is out there we don't know about. The ocean is a giant matphor for life. So dark, uncertain, full of mysterious creatures. It is so fascinating and frightening at the exact same time. I wanna know more about it, and at the same time I don't.