Turner by the Sea: Costa Teguise, Lanzarote
A poem by Jan Zlotnik Schmidt

Turner by the Sea: Costa Teguise, Lanzarote

Turner knew the power of the sea.
The way light sparks and streams on water
disintegrating fear.

The way trembling vanishes
In an iridescent haze.
The way light cascades across the mind

canceling out unendurable pain.

He knew the power of foaming
cresting waves blue dark
or touched by ethereal light.

Waves that wash
Over the body
Over the brain
Over closed eyes.

Eyes that peer
Into an illuminated sky.

Even the roiling, furious
unforgiving sea takes away despair
dispels nightmares of abandonment.

And always the thin white line of the horizon.
That boundary between a translucent blue sky
‘and a sea torched by sunlight..

‘He knew the sea heeded no one
but we still could cup ebbing tides
In our upturned hands.

About the Author:

Jan Zlotnik Schmidt’s work has been published in many journals including Kansas Quarterly, The Alaska Quarterly Review, Memoir (and), The Vassar Review, and Gyroscope. Her poetry volumes include We Speak in Tongues; She had this memory (the Edwin Mellen Press) and Foraging for Light (Finishing Line Press).  Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Press Prize. 

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